


Liberation: Tales of Persona (I)

by ManLikeCrease



Series: Tales of Persona [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Blood, Drama, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, Heartbreak, Memory Loss, POV Multiple, Past Abuse, Peer Pressure, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Smoking, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-03-09 06:15:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 139,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18911221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManLikeCrease/pseuds/ManLikeCrease
Summary: A much different and darker story to the infamous group known as the Phantom Thieves. Ren Amamiya, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki would want nothing more than to be recognised throughout Japan and the world for ‘taking the hearts’ of criminals and fixing a rotten society. There’s a conspiracy afoot in the city, stemming from their very own school and threatening people’s will to think. In order for them to feel a sense of freedom, the Phantom Thieves must liberate every dark corner of Tokyo whilst discovering the true nature of the Metaverse and ultimately, stopping the destruction of a nation.On the other half, prospectus secret agents from the United Kingdom find themselves stranded with a mysterious application on their phones. They must discover keys to their dark and locked away pasts, revealing roles within a conspiracy and project designed to test the realm of cognition. Along the way, each member questions whether to live and breathe by the law is such a good thing.The first tale of six. Liberation can’t be far away with the bonds you establish in life.Currently on hiatus. This will resume sometime near the end of October. ^^





	1. Team

**Author's Note:**

> Notes at the end.
> 
> EDIT: The dates will be written in UK form, so Day/Month/Year. Just to clear something up.

 

****

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**Shujin Academy**

**07/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

“So, have you seen one of these lately? It was posted all around the school only a few days before Mr. Kamoshida placed himself under suspension. It is undeniable that he has **‘changed’** in some capacity.”

Those words were muttered from the mouth of the principal of Shujin Academy, only known by Kobayakawa to the students and teachers alike. The principal looked rather content with himself as he slid a small piece of card across his desk. The mark on the card was recognisable from a distance and combined with the red colour scheme, everybody who was at Shujin Academy on that day could tell what it was.

A calling card, courtesy of what they believed to be **‘Phantom Thieves’**.

Across from Kobayakawa stood a fair-average height student, identifiable as a third year from the uniform alone. Her brown hair was accompanied by a similar coloured headband to hold the hair back, that of which was in a bob cut, and her facial expression beamed with curiosity as she picked up the calling card from the desk.

“Yes, I have. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spot who posted them, sir.” replied the diligent-looking student as she turned the calling card over to reveal a poorly drawn logo, the words **“TAKE YOUR HEART”** scribbled underneath. “However, I can conclude that whoever posted this card has some sort of connection to Mr. Kamoshida and what happened to him… I…”

“I want you to look into this, Makoto. It’ll help me with how to respond to the mass media and police. You are the student council president after all and I expect the highest of standards from a Niijima, coming from such a high lineage,” said the principal as he interrupted Makoto, placing his elbows on the desk and wrapping his hands together. “There is still that letter of recommendation that I know you especially want for any college or university.”

The words repeated over in her head.

_“... any college or university.”_

Makoto Niijima just couldn’t think of anything to respond to that with, it was true, as an honour student and the student council president, she was striving to pass the upcoming entrance exams with flying colours and moving to higher education without much trouble. As her role entailed, she had to report to Kobayakawa and finding whoever these ‘phantom thieves’ were would help her chances in the future…

… it just didn’t feel right.

“... okay.” Makoto finally responded. “I will start looking into this for you, sir.”

There was only one more thing Makoto wished to inquire about.

“That new transfer student… he only transferred to the area and to the school not that long ago and suddenly, this has happened to one of our teachers. Considering he was already one of three students who recently had some troubles with Mr. Kamoshida, that might be a starting point for us.” she confidently said, her sense of curiosity almost reaching its peak. “I suppose you have their names?”

“Ah, yes. ‘That’ boy. We’ve been introduced before.” Kobayakawa replied as he sat back in his chair, rummaging through the nearest draw as he pulled out three pieces of paper that were collected together. He lays them out in front of Makoto, each printing having an image in the top right corner with information typed neatly down the left hand side.

**Yuuki Mishima**

**Ryuji Sakamoto**

**Ren Amamiya**

“As of right now, we have absolutely zero proof about their involvements in this calling card, but you Makoto… I’m sure you can figure out something by yourself.” Kobayakawa said as he leaned back forward, ultimately seeming to dismiss Makoto as he waved his hand in her direction. Makoto herself didn’t seem too happy about this and managed to slip the calling card into her shirt pocket as she turned around to walk out, but stopped at the door momentarily.

“Sir… are you sure about this? I mean, Mr. Kamoshida confessed to some hor-” Makoto started before Kobayakawa piped up once more. “I thought I said you can figure this out yourself, Makoto. You won’t get anywhere like your sister without being a proper honour student.”

She wanted to answer back, but Makoto knew where she stood in all of this and shaked her head before leaving the office and taking the calling card out of her shirt pocket, flipping it over to the text printed on the back, beginning to read it to herself as the walk down the corridor become less and less crowded with each step. Meanwhile, Kobayakawa had picked up his phone, dialing a number and holding it up to his eye as his voice faded away from Makoto’s hearing range.

_sIr SuGuRu KaMoShIdA, tHe UtTeR bAsTaRd oF lUsT. wE kNoW hOw ShItTy yOu ArE, aNd ThAt YoU pUt YoUr tWiStEd DeSiReS oN sTuDeNtS wHo CaN’t FiGhT bAcK. tHaT’s wHy wE hAvE dEcIdEd tO sTeAl AwAy ThOsE dEsIrEs AnD mAkE yOu CoNfeSs yOuR sInS. tHiS wIlL bE dOnE tOmOrRoW, sO wE hOpE yOu WiLl bE rEaDy._

Makoto approached the set of stairs leading down to the second floor of the academy as she glanced over to spot three figures emerging from the library. On the left, a lean figure with blonde hair that was spiked up, sporting the black Shujin Academy blazer and a yellow custom t-shirt. On the right, a girl with long platinum blonde hair styled in pigtails who was fairly tall compared to other girls Makoto knew, also sporting the Shujin Academy blazer over the top of white full-zip hooded sweatshirt. Right in the middle, it was him. With black frizzy hair and a bag slung over his shoulder, his blazer was buttoned up compared to the rest. He turned around for a moment and seemed to gaze straight at Makoto, pushing his glasses up as they glistened in the light and the boy had no reaction whatsoever before turning back around as the blonde boy called his name.

The transfer student of rumour.

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**06/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

**Ren Amamiya.**

He had an aura about him that anybody could desire as a high-school student; that’s if they wanted to be branded as a criminal throughout the entire school. It was true that Ren had already fallen into an interesting crowd as a part of Shujin Academy, the school in which he had to attend as per his probation in Tokyo. Residing in a dusty attic for just less than a month at this point had taught Ren more than a few things on what it meant to have a disadvantage in such a setting. As per what Kamoshida had manipulated Mishima into doing, Ren’s criminal record was known by any student and teacher and was on the lips of the masses whenever he had a presence in any room, any corridor and even in the toilets!

 _God_ , he thought to himself, _I’d kill to have another false rumour float around this shithole_.

Although Ren didn’t like Shujin Academy and the teachers who made it their mission to throw as much chalk at his head as humanly possible; it didn’t mean he wasn’t aiming to be one of the top students. He took it upon himself to at least rub it in the faces of those who weren’t walking around the school with a target on their back and a criminal record to their name. His quick witted responses in class to a variety of topical questions wowed nearby students. His ability to perform at a high level in gym earned him envy from both the boys and the girls. And that last one was mostly by accident.

A hopeful student by day, however behind closed doors, the shy and mysterious Ren Amamiya was known as the serious and tactful Joker in the Metaverse. A cognitive world made up of distorted desires and shadows, those of which Ren and his group, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, were forced to fight in order to progress further in their mission to reform society. The first one of which came in the form of the school’s disturbing volleyball coach, Suguru Kamoshida. The utter bastard of lust had physically abused male students and sexually abused female students, even driving one of them to attempted suicide off of the school rooftop. This was an event that Shujin Academy attempted to cover up, but thanks to the Phantom Thieves?

Kamoshida was exposed for his crimes and confessed his sins in front of a shocked and surprised audience, including Principal Kobayakawa who had been known to have knowledge of Kamoshida’s actions, yet had decided to keep everything on the low-down in order to protect Shujin Academy as a school. In the crowd of shocked faces, Ren Amamiya, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki couldn’t help but feel proud in what they did. Hey, they were the Phantom Thieves after all. Through discovering Kamoshida’s abuses, Ren had met Ryuji, Ann and their cat companion, Morgana as the four made up the infamous group who everybody now knew as the ones behind the mass amount of calling cards posted up and around school the day before Kamoshida was arrested by the police.

This was only the first step to changing the school… or the nation… or the world…

* * *

 

“Are you for real?!” Ryuji exclaimed out loud in the usual meeting spot outside of the practice building. “What do ya mean we have to study for exams?!”

Ryuji Sakamoto was a very frustrated individual as he aggressively chomped down on a roll he had purchased from the school cafeteria, looking to his companions for help in this dilemma he had just been informed about.

“Listen, Ryuji. Morgana has a good point.” Ann said towards the blonde boy as he started pacing around the area, finally coming to rest by the vending machine and laying an arm across the top of it. “C’mon, Renren. Gimme some support over here.” responded Ryuji, completely ignoring Ann in the process and looking in the direction of the leader of the newly-named Phantom Thieves.

“You’re outnumbered three to one, clearly.” said Ren, pushing his glasses up slightly so they glistened in the sunlight. “Say what you want about Morgana, his advice of doing well in our exams to not stand out is something we should all be taking into account. Besides, don’t you want to study?”

“Bro! It’s the same thing every goddamn time with exams! I’ll pull an all nighter to cram all the knowledge into my mind, but then the next day… poof! It’s all gone and my name is right at the bottom of the results board by the time they’re all over.”

Ren looked towards Ann. Ann looked towards Ren. The two collectively sighed as a clear flaw had been exposed by Ryuji himself.

“Jeez, you really are as dumb as I remember you to be.” proclaimed Ann as she sat back on the bench and smiled, trying to get her jokes through to Ryuji to no avail. The blonde boy hadn’t moved from his position, instead after a second or so of silence, Morgana decided to speak up from within Ren’s schoolbag.

“Our first mission was a success and if we want to continue, then your school work is NOT allowed to take a dive. I know that Ren and Lady Ann understand where I’m coming from, so what will it be Ryuji?” the cat let out multiple meows to those who may walk back as the only people who could understand him were the group themselves thanks to their adventures at Kamoshida’s Castle and the Metaverse.

“Why does this matter? We’re the Phantom Thieve-”

**“Ryuji!”**

Ann piped up towards the one they called Skull as he was truly living up to that nickname outside of where it originated from.

“What?!”

“I swear, everything important we tell you just goes in and out of that thick skull of yours, huh?” she says fairly coldly, looking over to Ren for assistance.

“You just need to be careful discussing that name around the school especially,” Ren started, standing up as he slid his hands into his pockets and looked at Ryuji with much less disdain than Ann. “Something that I have noticed today involves a change in the usual whispers and rumours that always seem to take form whenever I am in the area. The Phantom Thieves name has become a talking point of the school not even two days after this whole Kamoshida incident. The mention of Principal Kobayakawa among these whispers means that he’s already looking for us. And remember, who were two of the three students that were supposed to be expelled as per Kamoshida’s request?” he finished up, looking to Ann to follow him up on what he said.

Despite shouting at Ryuji earlier, Ann’s mood definitely seems to have picked up as she smiles in Ren’s direction after hearing his small speech. _Urgh_ , she thought, _How long am I going to be able to keep this in for?_

“Ann?”

“Y-yeah? Oh!” she said, shaking her head and changing her expression on the fly to listening contently to Ren to staring a hole through Ryuji. Ren sensed that she had been daydreaming for his small explanation to try and make sure Ryuji wasn’t going to spill the beans about their secret actions. Who knows what the teachers would think at this point?

“Yeah, yeah, I getcha. Don’t worry! After all, I gotta pull my weight on this team more than just kicking shadow’s asses with my persona!” Ryuji confidently explodes with, throwing his hand up for a two fingered salute towards Ren, who nods back to him despite the fact that Ryuji brought up the concept of a Persona. He’d let it pass, nobody would know who his Persona in Captain Kidd was anyway unless they had been reading up that one book in the library.

“Anyways, you guys seen that cool new site that’s been made for us? The Phan-Site or whatever.” Ryuji quickly switched the topic as he held his phone out in front of him to Ren, Morgana also peering out as the screen displayed a more high definition logo of the poorly drawn Phantom Thieves logo as well as a fully working forum with polls dotted down the side, one of them at the top of the page relating to if people believe that the Phantom Thieves exist or not.

“Hmm. Aha! It seems that we’ve already attracted some attention of the general public! This is exactly what we’ve been looking for!” Morgana purred excitedly as the rest of the group looked on in awe. A fan site, made for them! Ren especially looked very curious as he started to watch his surroundings, seeing a familiar blue haired student standing in the distance and looking straight at him.

“Wait here, guys.”

He stood up as Ann, Ryuji and Morgana started to interact with the site and look at what it has to offer, Ren walking over to Mishima in a far corner just behind the practice building. He knew Mishima from the incident with Kamoshida, considering that Mishima was one of the many people physically abused by Kamoshida and had to endure so much of it just to keep his space on the team. The rather excited looking Mishima was also on the brink of getting expelled alongside Ryuji and Ren, so he had a reason to be happy about everything that had happened so far.

“Hey, so… I apologise right now for overhearing the conversation between you three as I went past, buuuut…” Mishima started, the corners of his lips curling into a smile as Ren just stood there with his hands in his pockets like usual.

“Do you like the site I set up for the Phantom Thieves?”

 _Wait, this was his site?_   Ren thought to himself, holding a hand to his chin as he propped his glasses up one more. _He acts quicker than I thought._

“Ryuji just kinda showed it to me there briefly. So, what’s it all about?”

“Officially, it’s the Phantom Aficionado Website or as I like to refer to it as, the Phan-Site. As somebody who was saved by the Phantom Thieves, I decided to repay my thanks by setting up this site so others could send in their issues and the Phantom Thieves could do their magic. If it worked for Kamoshida… then who knows?”

He continued, not stopping as Ren continued to lesson. “There are many evil adults in the world besides Kamoshida, that’s why I wanted to make a forum where people could post their problems.”

“Oh yeah, Phantom Thieves. They seem great.” Ren’s response felt very monotonous as he peered over towards Ryuji, who looked far too excited at this point. Ann meanwhile, was gesturing for him to come back to the group.

“I gotta go though, Mishima-”

“Hey! It was you, right?”

“Excuse me?” Ren was walking away for a moment as Mishima excited called out to him once more. “You stole his heart! Kamoshida, I mean.”

He didn’t know what to think at all in response to Mishima’s statement, how the hell did he even have the slightest suspicion about Ren being a Phantom Thief? Whatever it was, Ren maintained his calmness and kept his hands firmly in his pockets.

“No-”

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. After all, I did some horrible things to you guys and especially you Ren. The fact that I let Kamoshida manipulate me into leaking your criminal record still eats me up, so in return, I really want to help out the Phantom Thieves and their acts of justice. Can I?.” Mishima quickly cut Ren off by showing his support for the small group that had started up. It actually brought a slight smirk to Ren’s face. He felt he was doing something right and working against the negative label implied upon him.

“I’m sure the Phantom Thieves would appreciate that.” he said back to the blue haired boy, removing a hand from his pocket to wave him out as Ren returned to his group of thieves. It was his group after all after they elected him leader. For some reason, that part made Ren happy. He would be leading this charge of justice.

Ryuji and Morgana were conversing with each other by the time Ren was back with his talk from Mishima, deciding to seat himself next to Ann on the bench as Ryuji continued navigating the site.

“So, it’s him huh?” Ann spoke up first, looking around and towards the retreating Mishima as the former caught his gaze, perhaps scaring him off as Mishima retreated out of the courtyard and into the nearby practice building. “I couldn’t help but overhear whilst Ryuji and Morgana were looking into the site.”

“Something along those lines. I’d say that him thinking I was a Phantom Thief could be a bad thing for the future, but he’s on our side.” Ren replied and crossed his arms, looking in the direction of Ryuji as the blonde haired delinquent showed the screen of his phone right to Ren’s face. On the screen, it was a forum post, or a request to simplify things.

**‘There’s a circle of bullies at my school harassing first-year students and stealing their money. Please help, Phantom Thieves!’**

“Well, that certainly shouldn’t be happening. Did they specify what school?” Ren asked, “Yeah, the shithole we’re currently sat in right now. Same person who posted the request specified in a comment when the Admin asked.” Ryuji grumbled as he put his phone down, shrugging his shoulders towards the leader.

“If we’re being honest here, this seems like a job for the teachers. Here though at Shujin? They’re incompetent and I can totally see why people are already looking to us for help.” he followed up with, stretching his arms out before rising up and winding his arm up with that usual devilish smirk on his face.

“Whaddya say leader?”

“Hmm…” Ren thought to himself, he looked conflicted. This was because he only knew that to get rid of distorted desires, then it involves palaces. However, taking down an entire circle of bullies would require much more work than required. And? They had absolutely no idea who they were looking for.

“I may have a solution.” Morgana said; all of the group’s attention now on the black cat.

“Not everybody has a palace. That doesn’t mean one could grow from further exposure to desires such as what we saw from Kamoshida. What if I told you all that there was a place where shadows of much smaller or potential criminals reside? And that we could steal their twisted hearts just the same as if it were a palace?”

Everybody was listening to Morgana at this point, intrigued by his suggestion. “I’m referring to a place known as Mementos. To keep things simple, it is the palace of the general public.”

“The general public…” Ann thought out loud to herself, it was fascinating to her. The group had dealt with Kamoshida and now with this revelation, they could save more people. “There’s actually a place like that?”

“Indeed there is, Lady Ann. It being the source of the public isn’t the only reason that I want to explore the place… because it might just hold the keys to how I came to be.” Morgana followed up on, slightly shocking the group but at the same time, it only gave them more reason to go along with this plan.

“Y’know, the cat makes some good points.” Ryuji said, but Morgana was already leaping up and at him.

“I am not a cat! Or a monster cat! I am a human!”

“Chill, chill… I’m just messin’ with ya, don’t need to be reminded like all those times in Kamoshida’s palace.” Ryuji held his hands up, trying to crack a smile as Morgana stared a hole through him as if he were death itself.

“Let’s do it.” Ren spoke, standing up from the bench. “I’m with Ren.” Ann quickly replied with as she looked towards him, _How the hell could someone like him exist? In a good way!_ she thought to herself, just not out loud this time as Ryuji walked over to their leader and wrapped an arm around his back.

“That makes three!”

“I recommend that we start investigating Mementos tomorrow right after classes have finished up. Are we all in agreement?” the feline asked, sitting up and observing each member. They all nodded as Ryuji went over to retrieve the school bag that he had left on the bench, swinging it over his shoulder as he turned back to Ren and Ann.

“If there’s a place out there that can help our name become more well known, then I’m all for it. Ren said it earlier and now I think I understand. We can’t let our guard down anymore, aight? If we got Kobayakawa already breathing down our necks then others can’t be too far behind.” he said to the group, trying to redeem himself for his clumsy mistakes earlier and in the past about mentioning the group’s name as well as the fact that himself, Ren and Ann were all apart of it.

“They mature so quickly.” Ren jokingly said, leaning back in the bench and chuckling slightly. Ann couldn’t help but laugh along as their leader showed off a unique side of himself for once as opposed to his usual cool and calm demeanor.

“Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“We’re sooooo proud of you, Ryuji.” Ann was definitely fine with joking at the expense of Ryuji, deep down though, she was happy that he had realised that the Phantom Thieves name wasn’t something to be passed around like it was nothing. After what had happened with Kamoshida and Ren’s discovery of the group’s influence. She took out her phone and navigated to the Phan-Site, seeing something that she hadn’t noticed before. It was a poll right at the top of the page.

**DO YOU BELIEVE THE PHANTOM THIEVES EXIST?**  
**YES: 02.42%**

There were genuine believes out there, most likely in Shujin Academy. It brought a smile to her face.

“Did you see this before?”

Ann showed her phone to Ren, Morgana and Ryuji as they all peered over to look at the poll. The red bar was minimal, non-existent even as anonymous comments popped up underneath the bar.

**‘ANON: are u stupid? i bet this was all a joke’**  
**‘ANON: yeah!!!! go phantom thieves!’**  
**‘ANON: people believe this shit?’**

“What?! It’s gotta be way higher than that! Did they see what that bastard confessed to?” Ryuji angrily exploded with, stomping his foot down as the popularity obviously annoyed him. “Calm down, Ryuji. The reason that it’s so low is because it’s only been a few days since Kamoshida confessed and it was just yesterday when it was mentioned on the news.” Ren said, trying to calm his friend down.

“Yeah, man… I getcha, but you know what this means? We have to continue now! We gotta make more people believe!”

“Mwehehehe! I never thought that we’d be on the same page, Ryuji.” Morgana said that with pure excitement, looking towards the other two members of the group for more approval.

“I want to help others believe as well, especially if there are people out there suffering like Shiho. We need to provide hope for those who feel helpless, just like how Shiho was with…” Ann stutters for a moment, unable to continue as the mention of her best friend brings back all those painful memories and with it being so recent, it still haunts her right now. Ren is the first one to notice the tears start to form as he looks up to Ryuji.

“Do you mind us for a moment? Take Morgana with you, as well.” he said towards the pair. “B-but Lady Ann, she’s…” Morgana tried to speak and surprisingly, it was Ryuji who took Morgana up and placed him in his own school bag. “I’ll leave this to you, man. I got the cat.” With Ryuji leaving the two to their own devices, it was clear the school yard was winding down as the day had come to a close. Ann removed her hands from her face, wiping some more tears away as she looked around to see that the only person left with her was Ren.

“Hey, it’s just the two of us. Okay?” he said softly to her. Ren hated to see anybody like this and Ann was no different. “Ryuji took Morgana away, I just hope they don’t get into another argument whilst neither of us are around.” he tried to chuckle and look to see if Ann would cheer up. Believe it or not, it seemed to work as Ann sniffed and wiped her eyes with her blazer sleeve once again.

“Y-yeah. Those two always seem to be fighting.”

She smiled slightly, realising that the only one with her was Ren. _Shit, could I really do it now?_ were the words that ran through her mind. I still don’t know how he feels after all.

“Hey, can I ask you something, Ren?” Ann’s eyes were still fairly red. On the brighter side of things, she was in much higher spirits now; leaning more into the leader of the Phantom Thieves. “Of course,” he nodded in response. “Hit me with anything.”

“It’s about, well, like… do you remember when you saw me in the train station on the phone to Kamoshida? That was a crazy day and I’m… I’m just sorry for how I treated you back then.”

“Sorry? No, no. I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I didn’t understand what was going on and I stuck my nose into a situation that you were clearly uncomfortable about.”

“Ren… this is all on me. If I never told you about Kamoshida then we wouldn’t have what we have now. You’re kind as hell, never forget that.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right.” Ren agreed with her for once, maybe he was underestimating himself. She seemed happy when he was the only one around. I suppose I’m a really good friend, he thought to himself.

“The difference between somebody like you and somebody like Ryuji is that you actually have a lot of common sense. I’ve known Ryuji since middle school and he really hasn’t changed much. That’s not saying he isn’t a good friend but…”

Ann edged slightly closer to Ren.

“... you’ve helped me a lot more. So, stop being stupid and accept my damn apology, _okayyy?_ ” It was a surprising outburst from Ann, however Ren could tell that it wasn’t in spite whatsoever. He got up from the bench, grabbing his school bag from the table as he looked around to see that he and Ann were the only people left in the courtyard.

“Alright, just for you. We know what you’re like when you get all cranky, eh?” Ren was back to joking around, because of course he was.

“I **dare** you to say that again, Mr. Amamiya.”

“Oh? Are we doing this formally now, Takamaki?” Ann got him and punched Ren in the side of his right arm. He faked yelling out in pain, clutching his arm like it was about to bleed out before getting up and laughing once more, pushing some of the frizzy hair up and out of his face.

“You’re a feisty one, Panther. No wonder we gave you that name.”

“I will **LITERALLY** hit you again if I have to!” Ren heard his phone start ringing as he took it out of his blazer pocket. A call from Ryuji, this couldn’t be good considering Ryuji was alone with Morgana. With a hefty sigh, Ren swiped to accept the call and held the phone up to his ear.

“Yo.”

“Morgana ditched me, dude. Straight up.”

“Thanks, Ryuji. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He took the phone away from his ear and hung up on the line, leaving Ryuji out for dry as Ren himself knew that Morgana would have probably just made his way back to Cafe Leblanc. He slid the phone back into his pocket and gestured for Ann to follow him.

“We’ve got time.”

Wait, did he technically just ask me on a date? About a thousand thoughts were running through Ann’s mind and in reality, she looked dumbfounded at the simple statement Ren made just then. No, no. I’m still overthinking things.

“I was thinking that because it’s just us, we can use this opportunity to get to know each other some more. Would you like that?” he asked, hands still in his pockets.

Without even waiting a second, “Yes! I-I mean… yeah, that sounds wonderful.” Her excitement got the better of her as Ren was one to notice it, removing the hands from his pockets for once to unbutton his blazer. Hey, even though it was still Spring the temperature was picking up. It was out of school time anyway. He slung the blazer jacket over his shoulder, once again gesturing for Ann to follow him.

“You coming?”

She flashed a smile and ran after him, staying close by his side as they were the last to exit the school… except one. As both Ren and Ann exited through the courtyard and walked through the near-empty corridors, not a student but a teacher was carefully observing their every move. They didn’t go out of their way to follow the pair, that would raise suspicions considering their position. Ren and Ann reached the entrance as the blonde stopped for a second, a chill sent up her spine as Ren held the door open.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“No.. it’s just…”

Ann had to compose herself for a second, eyes darting around the corridors as nobody seemed to be present.

“You ever get that feeling that somebody is watching you from a distance? Like, urgh! It makes my skin crawl!” she grabbed a hold of her arms and got out of their as quick as she could, Ren letting her go out in front. He wasn’t done there though, heading back inside the entrance and poking his head down the corridors.

To the left, two to three students. It looks like they were part of an after school club.

To the right… nobody, although a door to a classroom was swung wide open. Ren felt he should investigate, but dinner with Ann was about 10x more important right now. He shrugged to himself and walked out of the entrance to reunite with Ann.

Inside the school, the door that was left wide open suddenly shut as somebody inside was heard dialing a phone number. Not before long, the mysterious individual seemed to make their call and a very familiar female voice spoke out from within one of the classrooms.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I haven’t made the full payment yet, can I just have a **bit** more time?”

**…**

“No? Just… please, don’t tell anybody about that… I’ll get you the money by tomorrow. I promise.”

**…**

“Thank you… goodbye…”

**Click.**

* * *

**Yongen-Jaya Subway Platform**

**06/05/19**

**After School // Evening**

* * *

 

And just like that the connection was gone, Ren really wasn’t helping the situation and the fact that Morgana has wandered off by himself. At least, Ryuji thought, this probably wasn’t my fault although they’ll say it was. Ryuji scratched his head for a second or two before deciding that he’d hang around in central street for a while, perhaps going to the arcade would be a good way to let off some steam after school?

“Exams, huh? I’d personally start looking for a new target if I were them…” the blonde mumbled to himself as he swung his bag over him, now relieved of not having Morgana scold him every five seconds. Ryuji reached the steps leading up to the station square when something seemed to catch his eye. He was able to cover himself using the nearby wall as he noticed somebody, definitely a student of Shujin, standing alone by the vending machines.

Is that the student council president? Niijima something. He said to himself in his own head, realising then he was starring a bit too much as Makoto soon looked over at him from across the station.

Shit! I better get moving.

Ryuji awkwardly flashes a grin and runs off up the stairs with Makoto not thinking much of it, however her eyes followed his every move until he disappeared from sight. Makoto reached over and took out her phone, opening it up to an application that she had previously been typing in.

**PHANTOM THIEVES CASE**

**SUSPECTS:**  
**RYUJI SAKAMOTO**

The younger Niijima only knew it was a matter of time before he would slip up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo. This is my first attempt at anything on this site and even fanfics in general, but I'm really looking forward to explaining an alternate and darker story to how the Phantom Thieves would have progressed. This might turn into a series, who knows? There's a lot I want to write about and really make this universe my own. I'm aiming to get chapters out when I can, hopefully weekly if my other commitments don't hold me up.
> 
> Feedback is much appreciated!


	2. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves are introduced to Mementos by Morgana, potentially being a key to discovering his memories as well as helping the group take down much smaller scale targets. Meanwhile, Ann and Ren share their past with each other, Kobayakawa wants to talk to a certain teacher and Ryuji has an extremely 'interesting' proposal for Ren and Mishima.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**Shujin Academy**

**08/05/16**

* * *

 

“I hope you realise the circumstances in which you find yourself in, Sadayo.” The principal of Shujin Academy stated as Kobayakawa sits back in his chair, a stack of papers in his hands all clipped together with a paperclip. Facing him stood up is Sadayo Kawakami, one of the more well known teachers at Shujin as she appears less than comfortable discussing this certain topic with the principal.

“P-please! I-I can fix this!” she pleaded, placing her hands together as all Kobayakawa could muster up was a grunt. “The guardians of Takase-san are incredibly displeased with the lack of payments they have received recently. Do you seriously have any idea the negative impact this could have on the school if they tell the mass media?” Kobayakawa snapped back, throwing the stack of papers down on the desk as Kawakami looked like she wanted to keel over and slowly succumb then and there.

This was a bad situation.

“I-I… I listened to your suggestion and put together that group of students. They’ve been successful in the scheme so far and my name hasn’t been mentioned whatsoever. It’s j-just… the money isn’t enough! Takase-san’s guardians keep asking for more and…”

“And what?”

The teacher of class 2-D had to wipe her eyes, this was a situation where there was no way she could win. The options were simple, refuse to pay the guardians for what happened to Taiki Takase and risk losing her job and damaging her entire career. Or the second option, continue to make up excuses about the missed payments, continue to suffer in silence and continue to be manipulated by the higher forces in Kobayakawa.

“N-nothing, sir. You have to understand that there’s no other way and that I can’t keep pressuring more and more delinquents into forcing others to pay off this ‘apology’.” she softly spoke, almost at a loss for words and not willing to fight back.

Kobayakawa through all of this, still managed to smile. He reached down into a filing cabinet and pulled out five files, laying them all on the table where the only student name visible was that of Yoshimori Sakoda. Kawakami immediately recognised him as the ringleader for her scheme; more than willing to help out the teacher in assistance for some extra pocket money and improved grades.

“Do you see all of the students in front of you? They were helpless teens and now have the potential to make it in this world. My number one priority is their education and this scheme is working for both sides.” the principle stated once more; crossing his arms as Kawakami took the folder of Sakoda and looked at it. Hell, even his picture screamed the fact that he was one of the most notorious troublemakers in Shujin. Kawakami had molded Sakoda into a top prospect. She suddenly felt the impact of Kobayakawa’s message… somehow…

“I u-understand.”

“Now, go. Don’t you have somewhere to be and certain services to be offering?”

**WHAT?!**

The shock within Kawakami’s mind didn’t show on her face; that is if going an entirely different shade of red in the face wasn’t proof of that. She quickly bowed to Kobayakawa before hastily taking her leave. She had only just started in that ‘other job’ recently as a way to generate some more income. Kobayakawa was even the one who suggested it as a ‘compromise’. Deep down, Kawakami knew that what she was doing wasn't right at all. It was like **a puppet on strings** , with the guardians of Takase… no, Kobayakawa controlling all of her actions. She felt restricted and unable to fight back.

… but she didn’t want to fight back. This was her role now.

* * *

**Shibuya Diner**

**06/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

It was still fairly bright outside as the Shibuya Diner didn’t seem that packed for the evening. Some customers occupied stalls, couples, families, the usual. Sitting in one of the more central stalls facing each other was Ren Amamiya and Ann Takamaki; this was Ren’s idea after all to try and get to know Ann more. They had been here previously to talk about Ann’s own strength and improving her heart (which therefore could help her Persona abilities), which then led to a trip to Inokashira Park. In front of the pair were two cups of coffee with the promise of endless refills. Ann seemed more concerned with her own hair rather than chatting, twirling around a strand of her blonde locks around her right index finger.

“I gotta admit,” Ren said to break the silence, taking a sip of the coffee before placing the cup back down. “The coffee at Leblanc will never be beat, but this place ain’t so bad.” He folded his arms and got a better look at Ann as she herself decided to have a sip. It clearly hit the spot as she smiled before placing her own cup back down.

“Mhm. Leblanc is that cafe in Yongen-Jaya, right?” she responded, definitely more happier than what transpired earlier at school.

“Yeah. If I didn’t tell you or Ryuji before, then you should know that the attic of Leblanc is currently my home.” Ren reached forward and took a sip of the coffee again, realising that he’s nearly drank another cup of it.

“Whaaaaat?!” Ann was quite surprised as she tilted her head to the side. “Like, the actual cafe? The actual attic?”

“If I’m being honest, the place isn’t as bad as I first thought it to be. After a good ol’ clean-up, I can definitely say that it isn’t the worst thing in the world.” he replied to her question, still managing to keep a cool head even though Ann thought Ren was insane for even wanting to live in such a place.

“... that’s crazy. I, like, can’t even believe how you could manage. I guess that’s just you, huh? Always making the best of a bad situation…” Ann was smiling again and if Ren hadn’t looked away for a second, he would have seen her cheeks go slightly red as the thoughts came back to her mind. _Is he really the one I want? Quick! He’s looking again!_

Ren saw Ann fidgeting with her hands before she awkwardly grabbed the coffee cup and downed the rest of the drink, although it wasn’t much, Ann felt like she had accomplished something big as she placed the cup down.

“Ahhh…”

“Never change, Ann.” Ren snickered as he saw Ann’s bizarre drinking technique and celebration, leading to the blonde pouting towards him as she crossed her arms.

“Remember what I said earlier? About me not being afraid to hit you again?” Ann felt her cheeks brighten up again as Ren couldn’t help but notice, however he didn’t say anything and instead folded his hands together.

“Let’s switch the topic, I brought you here so we could get to know each other some more.” Ren spoke with confidence as he had already discussed his past with Ryuji, so now Ann was next on his agenda as the newest member of the Phantom Thieves as well as his friendship group.

“O-okay.” Ann was quite nervous as she started playing with her hair again, attempting to think of how to start the next part of the conversation. “I’ve only ever told Shiho about my childhood and I feel that I’m in a position where I can talk to you about it as well.” Ren wondered to himself as Ann brought up talking about her past, she was fairly quiet and much more softly spoken than before. Considering she’s only told her best friend about it, this must mean a lot to her. Ren thought to himself as Ann continued.

“Growing up was tough, my father is a very successful fashion designer and my mother is an actor overseas. It meant that I spent most of my time under caretakers among other people my family had connections to. It’s still the case now and I’m used to living on my own. People called me a ‘freak’ when I was in middle school because of my hair, my eyes and just my looks in general. I had… I had no f-friends.” Ann hesitated on that last part, trying not to get upset again as Ren saw this and seeing his friend sad again only made him worse off. She still managed to retain her smile, seeing that Ren looked quite concerned and she didn’t want to upset him.

“I met Ryuji in middle school and yeah, we talked, but the distance between us kept growing and growing until we only glared at each other from the corridor. Apart from that, I lived in Finland for some time through my father and it was after that where I came back to Japan and transferred to Shujin. I met Shiho in my first year and we were both outcasts, like, yeah it wasn’t fun but we had each other. That’s all I could ask for in such a place.” she sounded much less hesitant, perhaps it was just because of Ren. “You know the rest and to you, Ryuji and Morgana, who knows where I’d be without you guys?”

“We owe you one. You should have seen the looks on Ryuji and Morgana when you first awakened your Persona.” Ren said as he realised if Morgana was here, he’d be scolded for talking about the other world in the real world. With the hustle and bustle of the diner, this wasn’t exactly a problem as nobody was paying the two any attention.

Ann chuckled to herself, “Don’t deflect anything towards those two now, who’s idea was it to call me ‘Sexy Cat’ again?” Just like that, Ren looked away and blushed, that part was true after all. “Ha… ha, yeah.” He didn’t know what to say next, Ann had really backed him into a corner, although not a bad one as she cut him off before he could say anything in response.

“You still haven’t told me about what your childhood was like. It’s only fair.” she said as Ren turned back around. “If you say so. You’d be the first person I’ve ever told about this.”

“Sooooo, that makes me special huh?”

“Y-yeah. We’ll go with that.”

The two had already hit it off, however this conversation made them closer than they initially would have thought. Ren heard the chains go off in his head as that only indicated his bond with Ann was growing stronger. It was the weird trait that went along with his wildcard ability as well as access to the Velvet Room. Igor had tasked him to make everlasting bonds and he felt… he had to make his and Ann’s bond last just that. To last forever.

Ren also didn’t realise how long he was sitting in silence for before Ann prodded him with her finger.

“You okay? I really do apologise if it’s such a sensitive topic.”

“No, no, I just drifted off for a second there. Let me start then…”

What he told her was everything she wasn’t expecting.

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**07/05/16**

**Lunchtime**

* * *

 

Back in their usual spot of the benches within the courtyard are Ryuji and Ren, no sign of Ann as the two lounge around without much of a care. Morgana’s head emerges from within Ren’s bag as the frizzy haired boy’s attention is directed towards his feline friend. On the other hand, Ryuji is rooting through his school bag and pushing everything from papers to textbooks all to one side whilst trying to reach out for something specific.

“You haven’t forgotten about Mementos today, have you?” Morgana asked towards Ren, “No, not at all.” he responded, finally looking towards Ryuji who seemed to pull out a large sheet of paper from his bag. When he turned it around in Ren and Morgana’s direction, it wasn’t just paper but an advertisement. The pink colour scheme and suggestive language on the poster definitely indicated to Ren that yes, this was definitely something Ryuji would pick up.

“I-Is that a… maid service?” Ren said, looking up to Ryuji for a response as the latter had one hell of a grin on his face. “Oh hell yeah, you already know, bro. It came in my mailbox and I managed to get my hands on it before Ma noticed.” the blonde boy looked very proud at the services on offer, his teeth showing as he grinned widely until he heard footsteps and tried to put the poster away thinking that it was Ann. She wouldn’t approve of what Ryuji wanted in the slightest.

However, it wasn’t Ann, but Yuuki Mishima.

“Hey, guys. I thought I’d hang around here until lunch ended.” he said, hands in his pockets as an idea seemed to come to Ryuji’s head. “Mishima! Just in time!” With a quick flick of the wrist, Ryuji presented the advertised to Mishima as it immediately captivated the young lad. He read it through from where he was and only the key words stuck out, two of them being ‘maid service’. If Mishima was trying to hide his true feelings then he wasn’t doing a good job.

“Sakamoto-kun, is t-this?”

“Yep! How about it? Me, you and Renren. **Operation: Maidwatch!** ”

 _Me?!_ Ren didn’t think out loud as he spluttered, Morgana didn’t exactly approve of this either, showing his disapproval with a glare towards Ryuji.

“I am going to have to decline, you two can have your fun.” Ren said as he folded his arms and leaned back, in reality he had promised Ann that he would study with her for the next few days in preparation for the upcoming exams. Taking part in what Ryuji had dubbed as ‘Operation: Maidwatch’ wouldn’t be helping the situation. “And anyway, what would the school say if they found out that two of their own students were using such services?”

“Come on, man! There’s no way the school can find out about this! Ryuji was extremely confident about this idea as he stood up and walked towards Mishima. “Even Mishima wants to be involved in this, dont’cha?”

“Sakamoto-kun… I never said that I wanted to-”

“You do! We aren’t just regular school boys anymore, we’re men! And think about it, this could serve as a good stress reliever before our exams. It even says here that they’ll do your laundry!”

“You go ahead with that. I’ll have business to attend to at Leblanc.” Ren stood up as he noticed that the final classes of the day were going to start soon, looking over in the distance to somebody waiting for him and calling him over to walk to class together. He started walking away as Ryuji and Mishima descended into their own conversation.

“I have a plan, dude. We’ll be sorted **AND** the school won’t find out about it.”

“... no, I mean… .”

Mishima didn’t want Ryuji to keep pestering him and hey, this would be a good chance to try and become better friends with the guy, especially if Mishima’s gut instinct of Ryuji also acting as a Phantom Thief alongside Ren was true. He didn’t forget the fact that it was him and Ren who were involved with him and Kamoshida, in which they were on the brink of getting expelled, then the Phantom Thieves happened and as the owner of the now dubbed ‘Phan-Site’, Mishima felt he had a role to fulfill in supporting the Phantom Thieves each step of the way even if he didn’t know who they truly were.

“... fine.”

He let out a sigh as Ryuji raised an arm in the air, perhaps in victory, perhaps because he felt like it.

“Hell yeah!” he exclaimed, “ Meet me in central street by the arcade ‘kay? I’ll give you the rundown and we can get this thing on the road. Don’t worry about doing it at any of our houses’ by the way, a buddy of mine has an old apartment we can use.”

Whilst Mishima had his doubts, he was willing to go along with it if it meant that Ryuji could feel good about himself. He also looked to sneak in a few questions about the Phan-Site to see if Ryuji was also a fan… well, considering all Ryuji talked about around school was the Phantom Thieves then Mishima was right to assume that he was a big fan.

Meanwhile, Ren had met up with the person in the distance and who was it? Ann Takamaki of course. The two had become much more closer than Ren thought he was with Ryuji, the two had even swore to each other on the ‘Bro Code’. Ren sensed something from Ann though, a strong heart, a strong will to fight and somehow she was the first one to see through the criminal record that had become his label in the school. It was… weird.

“Ren, you’re staring off into space again.”

He really was. Ren was looking up into the sky and not realising that Ann was tugging on his arm to get into the main building, looking at her phone to see that they really should be in class. Ren simply smiled and placed his hands into his trouser pockets, not saying anything and walking forward at a fairly fast pace.

“Hey! Hey! Too fast!” Ann said out loud as she caught up to Ren.

“Ann, you’re walking too slow again.” he jokingly said in response, annoying Ann to the point where she stomps her foot down on Ren’s foot. It causes a slight reaction as Ren pretends to be in pain once more.

“Grr…”

Ann almost imitated the sound a big cat would make, aka. a panther as akin to her code name. Ren laughed it off as they continued to walk down the corridor with Ryuji and Mishima trailing behind, still talking about what they would pull in the next coming days. And it was a good thing Ryuji was talking about something non-Phantom Thieves related as there was another student coming up behind them, textbook in front of her face as Ryuji was that oblivious not to hear the footsteps directly behind him.

Makoto Niijima walked past and barely managed to make out what the two boys were talking about.

_“... meet up soon…”_

_“... go off without a hitch…”_

_“... promise we won’t get caught…”_

_“... let’s do it after exams…”_

_“... urgh… fine….”_

It was vague, but good enough to keep her suspicions on Shujin Academy’s resident troublemaker. As she hastily made her way through the crowd to find the stairs to the third floor of the school, once again it was Ryuji who spotted Makoto moving through and glancing back at him. The blonde boy knew better than to stare back for too long and turned another way down the corridor, splitting off from Mishima as he started thinking to himself about today’s mission objective.

_Mementos. Let me see what’cha got._

* * *

**Station Square**

**07/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

Just like they agreed to the previous day on command of Morgana, Ren, Ryuji and Ann all meet up in the station square near to central street as well as leading down to the train station and railway tracks. Ryuji leans against a wall of the station building whilst Ren stands to the right of him and Ann to the left of him. They all look around to see that nothing seems to be slowing down in terms of people coming through, business executives taking calls and other students trying to push their way through to central street.

“We’re all here. Perfect.” Morgana started off by saying, poking his head out of Ren’s schoolbag like he always does. “Now, Ryuji, I need you to take your phone out and go to the nav app.”

“One step ahead of ya.” Ryuji already had the app open, the flashing red and black background was all too familiar to him as the prompts to enter text appeared.

“The location should just be Mementos, that’s all we’ll need to get there.” Morgana said, deciding to hop out of the bag and onto the wall in which Ann was near. He sat up as Ryuji’s nav app already got a response from the one word being mentioned.

**Beginning navigation…**

* * *

**Mementos Overview**

**07/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

At first, the scenery wasn’t any different apart from the distinct lack of people as compared to earlier. The only people who were still visible were the Phantom Thieves themselves, still in the same position outside of the main station and still dressed in their civilian clothing. Ryuji started to walk around in awe, seeing such a busy and bustling place be so quiet and empty. Ren also stepped forward and tried to look for any changes or distortions, placing a hand to his chin.

“It doesn’t look much different. Are we missing something here, Mona?” he said before turning around to see that Morgana had already changed into his Phantom Thief form so starting address themselves by their code names was already a good idea. They were definitely inside some sort of palace; without a doubt. “You two are getting colder and colder from where we need to go.” Mona said, calling out to Ren and Ryuji who were getting further and further away from the entrance to the station.

“It’s down there,” Mona continued, jumping down to the stairs leading down. “Mementos is down there. Follow me.”

Ann was already following Mona down the steps as Ren and Ryuji just scratched their heads and soon followed them down as well. Each step just seemed to lead to more distortion as the environment around them slowly got darker and darker, the walls resembling rifts within the Metaverse itself as the quartet reached a platform with sets of escalators leading further down. As soon as Ann took her foot off the last step and touched the main platform of Mementos, her outfit changed to that of the familiar red latex suit and mask.

“They already see us as a threat…” Ann said, looking quite concerned but still pumped and ready to go as she saw Ren and Ryuji go through the same process.

Ryuji was decked out in his biker-esque outfit, red scarf wrapped around his neck and the main feature that gave him his code name, a skull mask. Skull stood besides Panther as they awaited their leader to come down, his school clothes changing into the black trenchcoat and bright red gloves. His white mask stood out compared to theirs and his aura had completely changed. This wasn’t the shy and carefree Ren Amamiya, this was Joker.

“Mona, give us the brief on this place. Where would we encounter the shadows if they already see us as a threat?”

“I’m glad you asked that question, Joker. I believe that the shadows specifically located within Mementos are different from those we have encountered in Kamoshida’s Palace. They’re more restless and more vicious. We’ll be in for some tough battles, however this also serves as a place to hone our skills and answer more of these small requests on the… ‘Phan-Site’.” Mona drew his sabre out and was ready to go, remembering something as he turned back around to Joker who hadn’t moved with the group.

“There’s one thing we’re missing. Skull, did you get the circle leader’s name like I requested?” Joker kept his hands firmly in his pockets, it was his usual stance as Skull turned around to him now wielding the heavy club he purchased from Iwai to smash up shadows and Shadow Kamoshida himself only a few weeks ago. “Sure did. Being recognised as a delinquent among the school has its perks, nobody pays me any attention, not even those bullies.”

“Jeez. That says a lot.” spoke Panther, attempting to mock Skull as she chuckled before Skull looked on in slight frustration. “There was this one kid who stood out from the rest, could definitely tell he had a lot of power. His name is **Yoshimori Sakoda**. I saw him sticking it to Daisuke Takanashi.”

“Panther. Enter the name.” Joker said towards the only girl of the group, to which she quickly listened and took out her phone to enter Yoshimori’s name into the nav.

**Target located. Pinpointing location…**

Panther’s phone screen changed to a map of what seemed to be Mementos. Everybody crowded around to watch as a red exclamation mark hovered over the one and only floor they could access. With the mass amount of space underneath, the Phantom Thieves could only wonder how far Mementos went down. Mona jumped off of Joker’s shoulder and stood proudly by the escalator leading down.

“With how restless the shadows are down there, I figured that we could use a bit of transport to help us get around faster. Don’t you think that as well?”

Each thief turned to each other as Skull seemed the most curious out of the three, walking forward and looking down upon Mona.

“Yeah… yeah, my legs could use a break from time to time. What’cha got cookin’ Mona?”

As his name was muttered, Mona performed a flip in the air backwards to land on his feet and place a hand on the floor. The Phantom Thieves’ cat companion started to pose as he threw an arm across his chest into the air, shouting out some key words as Joker, Skull and Panther looked on in anticipation.

“Morgana… **transform!** ”

Mona leaped up high in the air and started to change, a puff of smoke enveloped him as he came back down to the ground in the form of a… bus! It bared resemblance to a minivan and had the exact same colour scheme as the cat, black and white with a tint of yellow on the front. Skull ust looked on in amazement as Panther clapped her hands together.

“That’s amazing!”

As he was now a moving vehicle, ‘Lady Ann’ could not see how much Mona would be blushing right now.

“H-heh, it’s not bad. I figured that this would come in handy to make navigation easier. Of course though, I can’t drive this thing myself so one of you will have to take the driver’s seat.” the now dubbed Mona-Bus said as Skull raised his arm up straight away.

“Shotgun!”

Skull ran forward and opened up the side door, jumping in as Panther and Joker just looked at each other and had the exact same thought running through their head of allowing Skull such a responsible task like driving them around an area infested with ferocious shadows. They gave their friend the benefit of the doubt and Joker got in the passenger seat, Panther positioning herself in the back as she forward leaned on the seat to further look out in front.

The group soon found out that Skull was indeed NOT a viable option to drive the Mona-Bus, pressing his foot down on the peddle and smashing straight into a wall which caused a yell from Mona himself.

Joker took over driving duties from then on.

* * *

**Path of Qimranut - Mementos**

**07/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

With the change over from Skull to Joker at the helm, the Phantom Thieves soon came to terms with what Mementos was and how it functioned. They emerged onto the first floor and were confronted by shadows from the get go, mostly turning out to be Slime. When a battle was on the horizon, everyone emptied the bus and Mona returned to his normal state in order to assist the team. With some remaining money left from part-time jobs at the flower store and even some remaining from the 30,000 yen the group obtained from selling Kamoshida’s gold medal, Joker made sure to purchase new and upgraded weapons for each of them. Panther wielded a much longer and spiked whip, Skull had a thicker club, Morgana’s sabre was sharper and shinier, whilst Joker himself managed to negotiate with Iwai for a discount on one of the more heavier knives to try and make as much of a mark as possible.

These new weapons didn’t even have the team calling forth their Personas at first with Joker commanding the team in such a way that they weren’t even aware of. With the final group of Slime on the horizon, the one positioned in the center clearly called for some sort of self-destruct move as the body of the shadow started to let off steam.

“Mona! Transform and get moving!” he shouted out as he reached up to his mask, sensing danger as Mona ran forward towards an open door and jumped up to flip forward and materialise into the Mona-Bus once more. “Skull, go with Mona! Panther, with me!”

“Carmen!”

Panther reached up towards her mask and pulled it off, the blue flames forming behind her into her Persona. Carmen appeared as Panther threw her hand forward, directing an attack towards one of the Slime that was positioned in front of Skull and the Mona-Bus.

“Agi!”

The fire spell was cast and the Slime was melted down into a pool of… well, slime before dissipating from existence entirely. Joker wasn’t down as he still saw the main Slime getting ready to explode completely, grabbing Panther by the arm as Skull helped them pile inside the Mona-Bus. The leader took position at the wheel and slammed forth on the pedal, the bus spurring on forward as the Slime blew up and nobody was harmed.

“Hey, man! That was awesome! You got us out of a tricky spot.” Skull said as he extended his fist out, Joker looking over for a second with one hand still on the wheel to accept the first bump. “It was nothing. I just didn’t expect such a weak enemy to come out with something like that. We couldn’t take chances.” he said whilst turning the wheel to steer towards another open door with what looked like a station platform and an escalator.

“That’s it!” Mona yelled out from his position on the road, thankfully no shadows were around to hear his excitement. “That’s the platform that will lead us further down into Mementos. We should look out for these if we want to keep progressing.”

“Noted.” Joker said, the smile still not having gone from his face as he brought the Mona-Bus to a stop. Morgana transformed back into his regular state, joining Joker, Panther and Skull as they started to scale down the non-working escalator. None of the boys could see, but somebody in the group could be seen with a smile on her face, observing Joker with his every step.

_So coooool…._

* * *

 

“The whole distortion has to be where we’ll find this guy’s shadow, right?” Skull spoke from inside the Mona-Bus, leaning forward towards the front as Joker stopped the vehicle temporarily. He looked towards the backseat and to Panther, the two nodding towards each other as they were ready for whatever was to come inside.

“We’re ready to go then. Mona?”

“Awaiting on your command, leader.”

Joker didn’t need to wait any longer as he drove forward into the void; it practically taking the Mona-Bus up and into the red and black portal. It wasn’t long before they ended up on the other side in some sort of secluded labyrinth of Mementos. As the bus skidded and came to a halt, the Phantom Thieves piled out of the Mona-Bus one by one as it transformed back into Mona. The four walked forward and observed the large room they were stood in, the source of the distortion coming from a lone figure standing in the middle of the room.

“That must be Yoshimori’s shadow,” Panther said as she felt a certain presence coming from the ‘ringleader’ of the bully circle that had been formed at Shujin. “Even for a student he gives off such a dark vibe.”

“Mhm. Changing his heart is gonna feel so damn good.” spoke Skull.

“Seconded.” said Joker; throwing his knife up in the air and catching it as the group approached Shadow Yoshimori. The yellow eyes on the shadow lit up as they turned around, dressed in the traditional Shujin Academy blazer that notably had many tears in it. The shirt underneath the blazer looked dirty and most of the buttons were undone. Yoshimori looked intimidating for a shadow as the bully’s smile only grew as the Phantom Thieves came into speaking range.

“Whadda you want?” Shadow Yoshimori stated, stomping his foot down which sent the thieves back a step excluding Joker who instead stepped forward, looking to let the shadow know whose territory this was.

“To make you change your way of thinking, as we would put it... “ the leader said with confidence, “... change your heart.”

“Ho ho! I suppose you must be jealous of what my scheme is and how much I earn. The best prize of all is simply watching the scared looks on the faces of those first-years. Each and every one of them…”

“Shut up! These students just want to get on with their studies and YOU make life worse for them!”

Panther suddenly spoke up from behind Joker. She had already heard enough and Yoshimori just laughed again. “Hey, hey… they choose to try and fight back. They also carry more money than any other student should carry. There’s a fine line in this school and I’m on the right side!”

Mona was next to jump up, already preparing his weapon as he started to walk around Yoshimori to make sure all bases were covered when it came to dealing with the shadow. “Joker. It’s your call.”

“You have one more chance. Confess your sins, promise to end this circle, promise to apologise to every single student who had to look at your face and give you their money!” Joker felt a surge of anger flow through him just listening to Yoshimori, because if there was anything that pissed him off more than rotten adults, it was those who had the potential to become just as rotten in the future. Yoshimori through his shadow was showing those exact qualities.

**“You need to be taught a lesson in respect!”**

The shadow put their hands to their head, letting out a scream as they dissolved into the familiar red and black goop. What rose up from the ground was Black Frost, the complete opposite from Jack Frost as Joker knew from looking at options from within the Persona Compendium whilst in the Velvet Room. The darkness of the shadow erupted all around the room as everyone got out of the way, all moving to seperate locations around the room as Joker made the call to attack.

“Skull! Focus on attacking! Mona! Support him!”

“Say no more!”

Skull leaped forward as he swung the club to strike Black Frost across the head, not moving the shadow as they responded by a strike of their own that Skull hopped over before a second one caught him in the stomach and sent him down to a knee. The shadow let out a yell as they had Skull in their sights, putting their hands out in front of them….

“Come, Zorro!”

Mona sprung into action and caught the shadow’s attention, unleashing his Persona behind him.

“Garu!”

The wind spell was cast forward as Black Frost had trouble staying on his own feet, being lifted up in the air and taken up in the green tornado to hit the floor hard. Skull gave Mona a subtle “Thanks!” before kicking up to his own feet, cracking his neck before reaching up towards his mask and gripping it by the base.

“It’s time to show you what I’m made of! Captain Kidd!”

Skull tore his mask off in an instant and flashed a pose like he was in some sort of superhero movie, Captain Kidd appearing behind him as Skull began running forward; club in hand. Instead of directly going in for the shot with his weapon, Skull decided to just throw the club over the top of Black Frost and the shadow just watched it float over… right into the hands of Joker! The shadow turned around in time to see Skull throw his hands forward.

“Zio!”

Captain Kidd made lightning rain down from above as it struck Black Frost, again, not much damage was done to the shadow as they seemed to just swat Skull away and turn around to face Joker again. With two weapons now in his hands, Joker put his knife away as he blocked an incoming punch with Ryuji’s club and swung it around into the the head of the shadow to stun it for a moment. “Panther! You can hit its weakness!”

“On it! Carmen!”

Coming from the side of a wall was Panther herself who (quite literally) pounced on top of Black Frost and blinded the shadow’s vision before flipping off and having a clear aim.

“Agi!”

Flames were thrust forward and Black Frost was able to take the hit straight on, being much different from Jack Frost as fire appeared to do absolutely nothing to the shadow. Panther of all people was shocked the most as she tried running around, not seeing Shadow Sakoda cast Mabufu with a loud screech. The ice scattered everywhere as Joker moved out of the way along with Mona and Skull, Ann though took the full force of the move as she fell to the floor in agony.

Shit, Joker said to himself. I should have known better than to assume their weakness. This is bad…

“Mona! Skull! Move around to distract it!”

The two did as they were told and without his club, Skull yelled out for another Zio in order to take Black Frost’s attention off of Ann and towards him. Mona as well contributed, still having Zoro out and sending it forward only for Black Frost to collide against the Persona and send the feline backwards. Joker on the other hand, reached up to his mask.

“Change! Pixie!”

The ability of the wildcard allowed Joker to wield multiple Persona’s at once, calling one of them straight from the palace of Kamoshida. The fairy appeared in an instant as Joker commanded it to move towards Panther.

“Dia!”

He cast the healing spell as Panther was able to stand back up on her feet, although Joker felt the need to help his female ally up to her feet. The sight of his face warmed Panther’s heart as she knew that there was still a task to carry out.

“Thank you, Joker…”

“Less talk, more fight.” he said, equipping his mask back on as Black Frost was tangled up fighting the duo of Ryuji and Morgana, yet still managing to be the one in control as both Phantom Thieves had to call their Personas back.

“Change! Berith!”

The mask came off once more as Pixie disappeared from behind Joker, being replaced by Berith, a knight on horseback who stabbed their spear into the ground as Joker knew that this one move would have to count in order to secure their victory.

“Cleave!” he shouted, pointing to Black Frost as Eligor charged forward and delivered a powerful slice that cut straight through the shadow. It was powerful enough to completely take it out, that in Joker's eyes was a critical hit, just like he had hoped for. Joker stood with his hands in his pockets as per usual. The mask re-appeared on his face as Skull and Mona rejoined him, Panther already at his side.

“Now, do it! **All-Out Attack!** ” yelled Morgana, commanding the band of thieves forward as they leaped up in the air and all threw everything they had at the shadow. In a matter of seconds, the main shadow had fallen and Yoshimori was all that was left. He was reduced to his knees and looked up at the group, mainly Joker who grabbed him by his collar and forced him up.

“Where were we again?” Joker said, smiling as he dropped Yoshimori. “Yes! Yes! Okay! I’ll...I-I’ll tell you the truth.” the shadow pleaded as he was able to stand up, facing the thieves and adjusting his torn blazer.

“The reality of it all is that there was somebody behind our group, the scheme, everything. It was a teacher and in exchange for robbing first-years for their cash and givin’ it to them, we would receive private tutoring lessons as well as a portion of the cash to fill our own pockets. My grades have been soaring ever since and my parents are over the moon, that’s why I felt it was right to continue.”

“A teacher!” spoke Skull as he hurried forward to stand right beside Joker, looking down upon the shadow of the bully. He turned to Joker, a more serious look in his eyes for once. “Dude, this could be info on another target. Kamoshida really might not have been the only one…”

“You want a name?” called Shadow Yoshimori, his body becoming more and more transparent as the seconds kept ticking away.

…

**“Kawakami.”**

Nobody knew what to say, even Mona, the cat who barely had any knowledge of teachers at Shujin Academy apart from hearing them from under the desk of his owner. Joker knew though, Kawakami was his homeroom teacher and he had interacted with her more than a few times. She was also one of the only teachers to show sympathy towards him and not chuck a piece of chalk at his head when he was dozing off.

This… there was no way…

“Now, let me fulfill my promise and get the others to stop this shit.” Yoshimori muttered before completely vanishing, leaving behind a small glowing object that was similar to that of the treasure they had discovered in Kamoshida’s Palace.

“That’s the bud of a treasure,” said Mona. “Had we not dealt with this quickly then it could have easily materialized into a palace.”

Joker reached out in front of him as the bright light formed into some sort of crystal, it was blue with a dark tint to it. A voice called out in his head as he seemed to gain the knowledge to fuse Black Frost from the Persona Compendium, perhaps a worthy ally in the future if he had the right Personas to fuse within the Velvet Room. He placed the item away and walked back towards his group.

“Good work today, guys.”

* * *

**Cafe Leblanc**

**07/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

The door of Leblanc swung open as the owner, Sojiro Sakura, looked over towards who was entering this late. He had already endured the usual amount of customers for the day and was ready to wind down for the night. Expecting Ren home at this time was actually quite norma as the high school student stepped inside the cafe, a warm smile on his face for a change as Sojiro noticed that he wasn’t the only one with him. In fact, the person who was with Ren surprised Sojiro the most.

It was another high school student, a girl even.

“You’re back.” Sojiro spoke as he looked around at the empty cafe, reaching into his pocket for something and throwing it towards Ren without any warning. Ren reached up and easily caught whatever it was, a key. To be more specific, this was the key to the cafe that Ren saw his guardian leave out on the side sometimes before locking up. “I figured that I can trust you a lot more now, so I’ll let you out to experience the nightlife of this place, but still understand that one slip up means you’re out of here. Okay?”

“Of course, I understand.” the boy replied, walking forward to let the other person into the cafe as they were clutching their school bag. “I won’t be going out tonight though, so I was wondering if it was okay for my friend to stay here and study with me.”

Ann stepped out from behind Ren and stood alongside him, they were both in their school uniform and had previously come straight from the shopping mall following their first trip to Mementos. In reality, the pair had asked Ryuji if he also wanted to come studying and a quick phone call from the boy’s mother put a stop to those plans as he had to rush home. That left Ren, Ann and Morgana, although the latter didn’t need to focus on studying for exams he wanted the best for each of the Phantom Thieves.

“Hi! I’m Ann Takamaki! Ren and I have mid-term exams coming up soon and like, the diner was really packed which is where we usually study. Do you mind?” she happily said, Sojiro walking out from behind the counter to face the two students. “I didn’t think you’d be getting girls already. Good job, kid.” Sojiro joked for a change, facing the pair who responded to his comment with some awkward smiles. “I’ve already said that the store is yours for the night, so go on ahead with your studies, just make sure she gets home safely.”

“Y-yes, absolutely.” Ren saved Ann from speaking as he dumped his bag on the closest table, Ann joining him with that as it was clear that Morgana had started to rustle around and wanted to get out. Sojiro though didn’t take much notice to the fact that something was moving around in the boy’s bag.

“Nobody comes in around this time. I expect you to use what I’ve taught you well if somebody does happen to want a coffee this late. Is that understood?” he asked towards Ren.

“I’ll do my best.”

That was all he expected Ren to do, the kid was a fast learner from when he taught him the basics around a week ago.

“Before you came in, I received an urgent call so I should be heading home. If I’m not back by the time we close then do the honours for me.” he last said, soon gathering his possessions and taking his leave from the residence. It only left Ren and Ann (Morgana too!) sitting opposite each other in one of the stalls, Ann already had textbooks out for English as Ren soon took out a workbook for Maths. They agreed to help each other with their weak points in order to have the best chance possible when it came to the actual exams.

The pair recapped on the events of the day, from discovering Mementos for the first time to finding out that Miss Kawakami was behind a bully circle to force money out of first-years. It completely baffled both of them, Ren in particular as he couldn’t get his head around how such a nice teacher could resort to that. Was it for her own game? Was it for something completely different? The truth would come out if they worked hard enough to discover it. As of right now, exams were a priority and only four days away from starting.

* * *

 

Ryuji had to run back home after his mother called. He expected a more serious situation than her telling him that she was working late once again and Ryuji would have the house all to himself for the night. She would probably be back when he woke up for school in the morning. Ryuji watched his mother leave through the front door, throwing himself onto the couch in the front room and taking off his blazer. He felt bad about not going to study with the rest of the group, however it wasn’t in his blood to study. As stupid as that sounded to him, the blonde knew it was the truth.

Outside of school and Shujin, Ryuji felt like he didn’t belong within society until the Phantom Thieves came along. All the teachers saw him as a nuisance and after what happened with the track team, students just didn’t want to hang around with the guy. He owed it all to Ren and was weirdly proud to call him his best friend. Who knew? The transfer student with a criminal record would give Ryuji Sakamoto a purpose in the rotten society they all believed in. This is why the Phantom Thieves meant so much to Ryuji, because he wanted to help change the world… sometimes for the wrong reasons like getting girls with the Phantom Thieves name he oh so wanted to become globally recognised.

...

...

He had just been watching TV in the main room for some time before kicking himself up and off the couch, walking over and taking his blazer up and over his shoulder. Ryuji started to head upstairs as he soon found his way towards his room. Realising that he left his bag downstairs, Ryuji felt like he wanted to go and retrieve before realising that he would get nothing done. He took out his phone as he saw some new messages pop up in the official Phantom Thieves group chat.

**(4) new messages in: 'Ryuji is shit at exams'**

**F3arlessl3ader: Morgana said a great job on today’s mission in mementos.**

**queen of crepes: give him my thanks, the bus was a huge help!**

**F3arlessl3ader: he’s currently trying to swipe the phone out of my hand and type a message to you.**

**queen of crepes: omggggggg**

**SKULLBOI: so uh… should we talk about what we found out from that guy’s shadow?**

**queen of crepes: kawakami. i’m still in shock.**

**F3arlessl3ader: either there’s more to this than we know or Kawakami really isn’t who we thought she was.**

**F3arless3ader: if they were tasked with giving the money from the first-years to her, then it must be for something else.**

**SKULLBOI: shit! what if she’s in a gang or something?**

**queen of crepes: don’t be so stupid ryuji**

**F3arlessl3eader: we can’t rule out any possibilities.**

**SKULLBOI: we should talk about a plan tomorrow or something**

**queen of crepes: don’t we have the day off school????**

**F3arlessl3ader: yeah, as long as Sojiro doesn’t keep me at the store to help out.**

**queen of crepes: oh! he’s the one who’s taking care of you at the cafe right?**

**F3arlessl3ader: he’s let me have a bit more freedom recently.**

**SKULLBOI: i want to talk about something as well, something other than the kawakami situation**

**SKULLBOI: Uh**

**SKULLBOI: No nvm.**

**F3arlessl3ader: You sure? You can tell us anything.**

**SKULLBOI: nah for real it's nothing**

**queen of crepes: if you say so!**

**F3arlessl3ader: morgana just said we all should be going to sleep.**

**queen of crepes: it’s not even that late!**

**SKULLBOI: that cat has problems**

**F3arlessl3ader: he can see this chat you know.**

**SKULLBOI: yeah yeah let’s keep discussing things tomorrow.**

Ryuji put his phone down on his bed and sat down, looking towards the TV and then his desk which had a few books on it. The temptation to study was there…

...

… but did he really expect anything else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter is here! The continued relationship between Ren and Ann was the main focus as well as keeping tabs on Ryuji and what he's thinking; also introducing 'Operation: Maidwatch' much earlier compared to in-game, although Mishima has convinced Ryuji to put it off until after exams. And we have our first main branch away from the normal in-game events as Kawakami will be the focus of this first arc! I appreciate the positive response from a few of you already as this is something I'm really looking forward to continue.
> 
> I've been in a bit of a whirlwind lately, so hopefully chapters will continue to come out at a steady rate. This one is fairly long compared to the first chapter and I shortened down some areas.


	3. San Marcos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's exam season. The Phantom Thieves are continuing their investigation into Shujin Academy teacher, Sadayo Kawakami, with an unexpected situation resulting in a major breakthrough for the gang. Meanwhile, three young detectives make their presence known and two of the Phantom Thieves get that little bit closer together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise that this next chapter has taken a long time to get out, ironically, exams of my own have stopped me from working on this. I hope you enjoy the next part of this soon to be grand adventure! 
> 
> My original characters also debut in this chapter, however you won't be seeing them in the Metaverse anytime soon... or will you?

* * *

 

**Pre-Chapter**

**09/05/16**

* * *

 

**Tokyo.**

It was a huge city in comparison to anything these young detectives had worked in before despite being situated within Japan for two years. The apartment in which three of them had purchased was still fairly new; furniture unorganized except for a fairly long sofa in which somebody was already laying across. The day was still early in Shinjuku, bright outside as one detective peered over the balcony with a cigarette in between his index and middle fingers.

He had slicked back brown hair, a toned body and a rolled up white shirt with a black tie to compensate. If he wasn’t going for the detective look in the first place he would have already nailed it. This man was William Reed, MI5 agent in training. Being brought up in the British countryside, William’s end goal wasn’t exactly to be working for the most lucrative and highest ranking security agency across the United Kingdom. He had been brought in along with six others when they were all 16, they had passed some sort of ‘test’ with flying colours and were forced to leave their families behind and work to protect the country.

Along with William, fellow agents in Robbie Allister and Alexander Smith were living in the same apartment as him, having all bonded from when they were brought into the service. Robbie was an average sized ginger haired strategist, never afraid of a confrontation, whilst Alexander tended to stay back on the field and keep his distance, however was arguably the smartest of the bunch. William, Robbie, Alexander and the four other special agents were deployed to Japan two years ago, solving what they would consider ‘petty’ crimes involving mob bosses, drug cartels and even simply walking to somebody’s residence and arresting them on crimes committed back in the UK.

Whilst these three had been living in Shinjuku, the rest had been away for a month in Sapporo. William himself never felt a sense of loneliness, he had his closest friends here with him after all. After putting out the cigarette and walking back inside the apartment, William’s attention was directed towards the TV. The news was on, displaying an image of what William could identify as a high-school teacher. He took an interest and signaled to Robbie, who was leaning backwards on the couch, to turn up the volume.

“This just in. A follow up to one of our breaking headlines from last week involving allegations towards a teacher at Shujin Academy, Suguru Kamoshida. From an unnamed source we have more information, as only a week before Kamoshida confessed to all of his crimes and handed himself in to law officials, several ‘calling cards’ were placed around school specifically targeting Suguru Kamoshida himself. They were signed by a mysterious group who can be identified as ‘phantom thieves’ and whilst many have seen this as a joke or a prank, all of the crimes this teacher identified himself as being involved in were summed up in this small message printed all around the school.”

“Hmm…” William mumbled to himself. Being tutored Japanese along with the other for an entire year and just a bit more than that easily helped him understand what was being said. Around his fellow agents, it was always instinctive to speak their native language of English. “Did any of you take an interest to this? I never remember them talking about these ‘thieves’.”

“Fuckin’ beats me, man. That last night out made me forget a lot…” Robbie muttered as he pulled himself off the couch, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “It doesn’t help that HQ decided it was a good idea to supply us with ‘work phones’ just the other week. Had to re-add all of my contacts.”

Oh, yeah. The new technology. William thought, It was nice to be back home for as long as it lasted.

“They still want us out here for a few more months.” Alexander said, standing up and pushing back the blonde hair out from his eyes. “My boss has been happy with the recent form we have been in.”

“Because you’re thirsting for a promotion?” William joked as he snickered and looked back towards the TV, they were now covering the weather for the next seven days. “This is coming from the person who is interested in a case about phantom thieves. I saw all of the information you gathered about Kamoshida, you know.” Alexander responded to William with.

“H-how did you get into my study?!” he was quite shocked that they had discovered his research, yes, the case fascinated him for some reason as he had never even heard of such a phenomenon. A calling card. The fact that the target themselves confessed their own crimes when they could have easily kept quiet. Walking outside of the school, the only topic was Kamoshida. Something about this was fishy.

“You are a very forgetful man, William.” the blonde man followed up with. “Uh huh, even more than me.” Robbie followed up with, knowing that William was his friend and rival in all aspects of life. Martial art classes, work on the field, written assignments, the whole shebang.

“Shut up, jeez.” William said as he also had his new phone out, much better than the one had been using ever since he was a young lad in school. He opened it up and the lingering question in his mind was still there. Across from all of the main applications, he swiped right to discover a lone app that intrigued him from day one. It was nothing like he had seen, not on the app store, nowhere. There was no information about it online so William figured that MI5 had something to do with it. Not like it had any purpose.

The logo was a disturbing red and black eye, kinda freak-ish looking. He tapped it on and walked over away from Alexander and Robbie who were engaged in conversation about Robbie’s last success in taking down a mob boss who also functioned as the owner of a nightclub in Shinjuku.

_“I still don’t know what the fuck this all is….”_

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**11/05/16 - 14/05/16**

**Exam Season**

* * *

 

The moment Ryuji was dreading.

The moment Ann was prepared for.

The moment Ren didn’t really feel much towards.

It was time for mid-term exams in Shujin Academy and despite only being at the school for just over a month, Ren Amamiya found himself ready to go after many days of studying with Ann Takamaki, sessions that Ryuji Sakamoto did not decide to turn up to because he was ‘busy’. In reality, Ryuji was either playing video games or attempting to study…

… only to go back to playing video games. He wasn’t ready whatsoever and after one desperate study session with Ren at the diner taking place the night before the exams started the very next day, it even felt a chore for Ryuji to write his name down on the front of each test paper. Ann owed all of her studies to Ren as even living in an apartment mostly by herself didn’t motivate her to take an hour or two to relax and study something other than English, a language in which she was mostly fluent in. Ren on the other hand, was dedicated to his studies with the negative label of a criminal attached to his name. His presence mostly distanced students away from him and the exam period was no different.

Every day passed one after the other, with the Phantom Thieves themselves not getting up to much apart from a single trip to Mementos in order to fulfill another request that Mishima had texted Ren about, with it receiving a lot of attention on the Phan-Site itself. It involved an ex-boyfriend stalking a woman who begged the thieves to fix her issue, the man in question was Natsuhiko Nakanohara. Making their way through Mementos was a lot easier this time for the group as Joker led the charge as usual. They reached Shadow Nakanohara as he took the form of Obariyon, a Persona that Joker himself had obtained back in Kamoshida’s Palace.

This battle went a lot quicker than when they confronted Yoshimori Sakoda and with an Agi fired from Ann, it opened up Shadow Nakanohara to Ren and his main Persona of choice in Arsene. The first true companion of Ren blasted the Obariyon away and just like that, they got Nakanohara to change his ways and eventually apologise to his ex-girlfriend. The stalking stopped soon after with a post on the Phan-Site confirming it all, giving the Phantom Thieves more confidence and the meter at the top of the website only seemed to be growing ever so slightly.

 **‘DO YOU BELIEVE THE PHANTOM THIEVES EXIST?’**  
**‘YES: 03.53%’**

That was a small bit of hope in such a dark society.

* * *

 

“Pheeeew! Man, am I happy that’s over!” Ryuji huffed as he threw himself down onto the bench in the courtyard in their usual meeting spot right by the vending machines. The final exam had come to an end and everybody seemed pleased, especially Ryuji.

Morgana appeared from out of Ren’s school bag and perched himself on the table, looking at the expressions of each student. “Hmm. Judging by Lady Ann and Ren’s faces, it seems that this period didn’t go too badly.”

“I beg to differ.” Ann interrupted with, “Like, the only exam I think I did well in was English.”

“Ya! You speak it fluently! Of course you’d have an advantage!” Ryuji shouted out as he leaned back further, stretching his arms out and groaning. “What about you, Ren? Struggle with anything? Slip up on any question?”

Their leader thought intensely and placed a hand to his chin, even ruffling his hair before muttering out a response.

“No, not really.”

“Oh, come on!”

Morgana simply tried to place a paw up for a face palm of sorts, of course he wanted to show his displeasure towards Ryuji and Ann, well, Lady Ann and the last person is exactly the reason the feline decided to switch up the topic to business that wasn’t related to exams. “I suggest that we should now focus on finding a new target for the Phantom Thieves after that last request in Mementos.” the cat spoke, jumping off of the table and leaping up to the bench to sit by Ryuji.

“Nakanohara?” Ann asked, “Or do you mean the one before that?”

“Precisely. The student we took down during our first time in Mementos. I’m sure you can remember this, Ren, but he mentioned another teacher at this school right?” Morgana turned to Ren as he walked forward and took out his phone, still on the Phan-Site as a certain post on the forum was open.

“Ms. Kawakami.” he showed the phone to the rest of the group, a post highlighted.

**‘I was forced by a teacher at my school to bully other students for their money! Phantom Thieves, please help me!’**

“I can guarantee you that this was Yoshimori. This is a proof of his change of heart, so that’s definitely a job well done.” Ren said as a smile came to his face, the rest of the Phantom Thieves shared the same expression that was soon replaced with a straight face as Ren began his main argument.

“Kawakami is out of control and I’m as shocked as you guys are. This school, this place… it’s corrupt. At this point in time, it is in no way worse than Kamoshida and the crimes that he committed, but who knows what other students and even teachers are getting converted as we speak?” he spoke, hand gestures in all as he once again took that leader position all too well in his stride. Ryuji, Ann and Morgana all nodded.

“The only problem we have is a lack of information. We should investigate more before solidifying Kawakami as our target.” Ren said, pacing around the table as Ryuji raised a hand up like he was a student in a class…

… well, he was, but you get the point!

“Ain’t we already got enough? She’s evil, dude.” he said to Ren, who was quick to respond in return. “Do you remember what happened with Kamoshida? Kobayakawa knew about the incident and let him get away with those crimes.”

“I see…” Ann said, now being the one to speak and lead the conversation. “To be honest, Kobayakawa letting Kamoshida do what he did already makes me want to change his heart. Even if he’s commanding the entire teaching body of the school, we honestly can’t make any risks. I understand that you want to think this through Ren as Kawakami was the only teacher to even treat you normally…”

“Great intuition, Lady Ann!” Morgana exclaimed, suddenly jolting backwards and into Ren’s bag as they all hear footsteps coming around the corner to reveal the student council president herself, Makoto Niijima. From his own knowledge, Ren knew Makoto to be an extremely smart third-year student. She always seemed… lonely, though. Niijima reminded him of… him. It was a weird analogy, however she had interrupted the group discussing more than important business they couldn’t risk getting out.

“What an interesting group. Ryuji Sakamoto, the notorious troublemaker.” Makoto started off by saying, prompting a reaction from Ryuji as he raised an eyebrow.

“Ren Amamiya, the infamous transfer student. I hope you haven’t gotten into any trouble hanging out with such a group.” she continued, looking towards the neatly dressed Ren. She could identify him as a clear leading figure among the group compared to Takamaki and Sakamoto, who all dressed in their own personal style with the Shujin Academy blazer thrown over the top. Ren was curious as he pressed his glasses up his nose, staring straight at Makoto with an unimpressed look.

“And Ann Takamaki, the girl of rumour…” Makoto went to finish off when Ann stepped forward and stood right in front of her, not the happiest either along with the rest of her group. “What the hell are you doing here, huh?” Ann wasn’t in the mood to play around as Makoto didn’t back down, simply smiling as she looked back towards the boys.

“As student council president, it’s my job to ensure the safety of all students in this school. As I said, this really is an interesting group.”

“Are you going to answer my question or not? I also don’t appreciate what you said to Ren.” Ann replied, crossing her arms.

“You don’t need to get all defensive, Takamaki-san. I would just like to ask why you’ve been up on the rooftop recently, it’s come to my attention that you’ve been gathering there after school on most days. Sometimes, until the evening.” Makoto asked, backing up and holding a stack of books in her hands. “Care to explain?”

“And what is it to you? Oh, Makoto, I’m so sorry that you don’t have any friends here apart from the mindless zombies who decided to sign up for student council. Go listen to the principle blab on about how Kamoshida was just misunderstood or something? Just **go**!” Ann was more than flustered as even Ren was quite surprised at her outburst, I guess she really doesn’t like Makoto, he thought to himself.

 _Girls are scary_ , Ryuji said in his mind.

Makoto didn’t exactly know what to say to Ann, it was true, she didn’t have anyone to talk to in school and that’s why she felt so disconnected from everything apart from her studies. People saw her as a nuisance, it was inevitable. She still kept a straight face and looked backwards behind Ann towards Ren and Ryuji again.

“F-focus on your studies, okay?” Makoto just scurried off, trying to remain calm as she wondered to herself what it would take for somebody to accept her.

Meanwhile, Ann looked towards the boys and Morgana, who had re-emerged from Ren’s bag. Ryuji just sat down in slight shock as Ren kept a stoic expression, still standing with his hands in his trouser pockets. Nobody spoke for a while until Ann decided to break the silent.

“... bitch.”

“Ouch.”

The group continued to speak about the issues they were involved in as Makoto was walking out of the courtyard and into the practice building where a lot of students still hadn’t departed. Most of them simply ignored her as she walked down the corridors, books under her right arm and phone in her left hand. She looked at a familiar section in her notes, her own separate research on the calling card case. Makoto took from her sister in wanting to solve cases by herself, taking responsibility for this curious case of either pranksters or legit thieves that potentially pressured Kamoshida into admitting his own guilt… she didn’t want to report to Kobayakawa for once.

Makoto was able to reach a secluded corner of the hallway as she put her books on top of a locker, leaning against it and letting out a deep breath.

**PHANTOM THIEVES CASE**

**SUSPECTS:**  
**Ryuji Sakamoto (!!)**

She bit down on her lip and started to type out two more names.

 **Ren Amamiya**  
**Ann Takamaki**

When she reported to Kobayakawa, there would be no updates.

* * *

**Cafe Leblanc**

**14/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

“Ah, you’re back.”

The familiar voice of Sojiro called out to Ren as he opened the door and returned to his attic home for the night. Compared to when Ren had first arrived, Sojiro had some more respect for the boy with no issues being reported from the school apart from when Ren was late on the first day. Sojiro boiled that down to Ren himself being unfamiliar with the area as well as the bustling train station and system. He looked towards a customer sat at the bar, pouring a coffee for them as he slid it across as Ren walked past and towards the stairs leading up to his makeshift room.

“The house brew, as you wanted.” the owner grumbled. He had that raspy tone to his voice, but was warm and welcoming at the same time.

“Thank you.” said the woman receiving the drink, taking it as Ren noticed she looked stressed more than anything. She had long ashen brown hair, which suited well with her formal looking black business suit. If Ren had to guess what position she was in, lawyer would be the first placement to come to his mind. He didn’t wish to ask any more questions as Morgana popped out of his bag as the boy was heading upstairs to his room.

“We should go out and experience the nightlife, you have been stuck up in here for the past few days and I worry about your social interaction.” the cat said, Ren nodding as he didn’t want to start talking to Morgana with Sojiro and a guest nearby. Whilst the Metaverse allowed him to communicate with an actual cat, it also made him seem crazy to any onlooker.

“I’m heading out.” he said, walking out towards the door as Morgana tucked himself back into the bag, getting out of view from anyone. “You can change out of your uniform by the way, loosen up a bit.” Sojiro said in response as Ren reached the door, which made the lad realise it was a good idea to head back and change into something more comfortable. He didn’t feel much from the guest, however they suddenly turned to him.

“That uniform… I suppose you attend Shujin Academy?” the older woman asked to him, stopping Ren in his tracks as he turned on his heel and faced her.

“... yeah, Shujin.”

“Oh, it’s just I know somebody who goes there. She’s the student council president if you’ve seen her around on site.”

A thought rushed to Ren’s head as his expression didn’t change, although his thinking did. _This woman knows Makoto? I think it’d be best if I stayed quiet._ He hadn’t realised that time in the real world didn’t pause, leaving him in a second or so of silence before he spoke up again.

“I can’t say I have seen her.” Ren lied through his teeth, starting to walk backwards and turning around to head upstairs. The woman turned back around to the bar and lifted up the coffee cup to take another sip, Sojiro watching the boy he’s taking care of walk back upstairs.

“Don’t mind him Niijima-san, he’s just a part-timer.”

Sae Niijima didn’t say anything in response to that as she simply finished her coffee and placed the cup back down, getting up and thanking Sojiro for the coffee before heading out through the door and walking off in the distance. She was heading back to her apartment to speak with her sister, Makoto Niijima about that boy she saw in the cafe. Something was telling her that the hesitation meant he wasn’t telling the truth. What relationship did he have to Makoto?

* * *

**Shibuya**

**14/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

Ren had made it to Shibuya and more specifically, the station square in which the Phantom Thieves had first met to discover what they now knew as Mementos. He was conversing with Morgana the whole way on the train, keeping his voice down or not talking at all and simply through head gestures in order to not raise suspicion. He reached the station square as Ren noticed a politician of sorts giving a speech near the outside of the station, nobody seemed to be listening to him as Morgana spoke to Ren about it.

“Hey, if you ever wanted to learn to become a great speaker then somebody like him could teach you! It’d help when negotiating with shadows.” Morgana exclaimed, hiding back in Ren’s bag as many people were coming by.

“Perhaps.” he muttered, promising to return to the spot when he gets a text message come through on his phone. The person sending it brought a smile to his face, it was Ann.

**Ann: Are u out rn?**

**Ren: In station square as we speak.**

**Ann: Um**

**Ann: I was wondering if you wanted to come over and talk**

**Ren: Is anyone in?**

**Ann: No just meeee**

**Ren: Right**

**Ren: Are you alright? I know that you get lonely.**

**Ann: yeah**

**Ann: bingo**

**Ren: I’ll see you when I see you.**

**Ann: :)**

“Oh! I am ever so sorry!”

Ren looks up from his phone to find that somebody has bumped into him, dropping what looks to be some sort of canvas or pad. From a brief glance, Ren could see that it was a drawing of the exact location they were in. Shibuya. Running a hand through his hair he looked towards the individual who had accidentally collided with him whilst Ren was just standing there on his phone. He could infer that this person was drawing whilst walking, not the smartest move in such a busy place, even in the evening.

It was a fairly tall boy, most likely around Ren’s age. He wore a long sleeved white dress shirt and had notable dark blue hair with parted bangs that cover his left eye. As the boy was dusting himself off, Ren made the option to reach down and pick up his sketchpad, taking a close look at the extremely detailed image that had been drawn out on the page. He was almost taken away, it was definitely better than anything he could even think of.

“Ah, you have retrieved my work for me. Have you taken a liking to it?” the blue haired boy said, standing in front of Ren. It gave Ren another opportunity to look him up and down, seeing a set of keys hanging from his belt and black trousers.

“How long did this take? It’s extremely well done.” Ren asked as he handed out the pad to the boy who took it gracefully, a smile now on his face.

“I have actually been observing this exact location for a number of hours. My sensei advised that I should draw the environment around us when we run out of ideas.” he responded with, taking another look around the bustling station square. For a moment, Ren contemplated what the hell was so interesting about this place with so many people. He looked to the boy with a puzzling look on his face.

“I-I don’t mean to be rude when I say this, why exactly did you choose this place?”

The boy placed a hand to his chin and then reached into his pocket to pull out a pencil, stepping back to try and observe the scenery once more.

“Hmph. Have you ever heard of artist’s block? It is a way of saying that ideas of such an artist have run dry. This place gives off energy like no other and I truly intend to bring out the best features on my canvas.” he responded, his voice with a high sense of maturity that Ren didn’t sense from people like Ryuji and Ann. Whoever this was, intrigued him and puzzled him at the same time.

“I am forgetting my politeness here, I should have introduced myself earlier. My name is **Yusuke Kitagawa** , a pupil of Ichiryusai Madarame and a student at Kosei High.”

 _Madarame? One of, if not the most, famous artist to come out of Japan in the past few years?_ Ren thought as even with no knowledge of the world of fine arts, the name of Madarame definitely caught his eye from reading many books and hearing about him online. To know that he resided here in Tokyo was quite interesting.

He also forgot to say anything in response and was just blankly staring at Yusuke.

“Are you quite alright? Perhaps you are an aspiring artist like myself?” Yusuke asked towards Ren.

“Not really, it’s never been on my mind. You seem very talented though.” he said in response as that caused another smile for Yusuke and a slight chuckle. “I thank you for that. My sensei has always taken a liking to my work, unfortunately it seems I cannot meet his quota in terms of ideas....”

Ren felt a sense of… sadness from Yusuke, he knew that he spoke about artist’s block and was happy that he had the chance to come up with new ideas, however this tone didn’t feel right to him. He held off on saying anything, instead wanting to simply comfort his new acquaintance.

“Hey, I’m sure you’ll come up with something good. You’re under the tutelage of Madarame, right?”

“Yes. He’s taught me a lot about the world of fine arts…” Yusuke said, letting his arms fall down as he took his pad underneath his right arm. “I should get going now, though. I am sorry to have taken up a moment of your time.”

Ren had to smile, Yusuke’s politeness was something he hadn’t seen before in any of his friends. He wondered if he they would ever cross paths again.

“No, please don’t worry about it Kitagawa-kun. It’s been an interesting talk.” Ren said lastly before he extended a hand out to Yusuke. The blue haired boy took the handshake as he also felt something from Ren, a mysterious yet unique vibe about him.

“I’m Ren Amamiya by the way.”

Yusuke smiled once more, letting go of the handshake as he proceeded to turn around and head back off towards the underground walkway. “I bid you a good night.”

* * *

 

He had reached his destination for the night, despite pleas of Morgana saying that it was late and he should head back. Ren simply ignored his cat and approached the house in which Ann had directed him to go towards. It was fairly big for the area and Ren could tell that her parents really trusted Ann… and also had quite the bit of cash to throw around if they were constantly travelling around the world. He opened up the gate to the house and walked across the path, reaching the door as Morgana popped his head out of Ren’s bag that he was carrying.

“Can you… go for a walk, maybe? Ann did say she just wanted to speak to me.” he said towards the cat who now Ren could easily tell was quite unhappy with that suggestion. “Come on. If this was anyone else then you’d be off in an instant.”

Morgana still didn’t respond to Ren as the latter knocked on the door three times, knowing that his feline companion only had a few seconds to get out of sight. As the door just started to open, Morgana jumped out of Ren’s bag and started walking away as Ann didn’t even notice him. She was still in her school uniform excluding the blazer, the white hoodie put up as she let it down when she saw Ren.

“You came! This… w-well, this is the first time I’ve had anybody but Shiho around here. And between you and Ryuji? That’s one of the easiest decisions to make.” Ann said happily as she stood aside to let Ren into the house. He walked in and took a moment to view just how big it was, a living room to his right, what looked like a kitchen to his left. Then in front of him, a staircase that would lead upstairs to well, the bedrooms and the bathroom.

“It’s just you here? This is amazing.” he asked before realising exactly what he said and what it could be inferred as. Ren bit down on his lip and turned around. “T-the house! I mean! You have a lot of space in here.”

“Mhm. My parents only have time to visit once or twice a month so I get really lonely here. The caretakers come here and do their job, but it’s mostly when I’m at school, so I have a lot of responsibility.” Ann realised that she hadn’t closed the door when Ren walked in, leading to a certain feline sneaking inside. The two of them didn’t realise this though as Ann finally shut the front door and gestured for Ren to follow her.

The two walked over to the open living room as Ren sat down on the sofa as opposed to Ann who just threw herself down next to him. She sat up and started fidgeting with her hands, an awkward silence filling the room as Ren eventually broke it after a few seconds.

“I know how you feel,” he stared off by saying, looking towards Ann with his arms crossed. “At Leblanc, all I have is a cat that tells me to go to sleep and Sojiro who doesn’t really speak to me that much. The most I can do right now is give you somebody to talk to.”

Ann’s face brightened up with Ren’s words, he was still a kind soul.

“Thanks…”

“I wanted to talk to you about something that’s happening in a few days. I’m taking part in a photoshoot for my modelling agency and I feel like I’d perform better with somebody I like watching me…” Ann said and just like Ren did before, backed up on her words quickly.

“... because you’re one of my only close friends here! Yeah! There’s no way I’d take Ryuji and then Morgana is just…”

She sighed.

“Desperate?” Ren broke in with. “I mean, yeah, he’s a really great teammate and asset, but I feel he tries way too hard to impress just me. We should all be supporting each other equally.” she finished off with, not knowing that a certain cat was watching from a kitchen counter behind a tin.

“Without Morgana, I don’t know where the hell we’d be. Please though, do not take him with you to a photoshoot. It’d be pretty funny though…” Ren leaned back, attempting to put on his best impression of his cat companion.

“... Lady Ann.”

“Stop it, you.” she slightly nudged him as Ren just laughed it off.

“As for the photoshoot? Count me in.” Ren had never really been up and close with any sort of photoshoot, he’d seen them online with famous models and celebrities and that was about it. He really did think that it was best for Ryuji to sit this one out at home, but that also brought another question to his mind.

Where the hell was Ryuji? He saw him leave school with the biggest grin on his face with Mishima of all people and so far, hadn’t heard from him at all even in the Phantom Thieves group chat.

“Um…” Ann said nervously as she slightly moved towards Ren, “I also wanted you here to talk about Shiho again, because I went to visit her again.”

“You did? How is she?”

“Somewhat better, she tried to walk and still, it was too difficult for her. Shiho was in pain and wanted to give up, but she didn’t. Despite all her complaining… she still tried incredibly hard. I couldn’t stay there for too long as she needed her rest. I-I j-just don’t know what I can do to help her. All I’m doing is watching her suffer…” she weeped and looked down, Ren felt he had to do something.

Unfortunately, Ren had absolutely no clue how to deal with girls.

“No.”

“H-huh?”

“You’re her best friend, the one who has always been there for her. You just being there is helping her through these times.” Ren scratched the top of his head for a second, thinking of a way to lighten the mood again. Nothing came to mind though, he was just concerned with making sure she was okay.

“She was in pain and probably still is. I wanted to cry then and there... am I just weak? Am I not strong enough to help her? What can I do to help her?” Ann was conflicted, wanting to help Shiho and not knowing how, believing herself to be a burden of sorts on her best friend after the situation. She sniffed, blinking a few times as Ren simply was thinking of something… something that would help both Shiho and Ann.

…

“You need to show her your own **strength**.” Ren finally said, causing quite a perplexed look to come from Ann in response.

“M-my strength?”

He nodded. A slight silence filled the room as Ann thought for a few seconds, trying to process it all in her head.

“You know, even through all that pain, I thought Shiho was so cool… beautiful, even.” she finally smiled and felt much more comfortable in opening up about it to Ren. It was something about his presence and what he said that made Ann feel a lot more warmer compared to discussing her issues with somebody like Ryuji or even Shiho herself.

“What you say is right though, because Shiho always mentions my career as a model and she wants me to succeed. I’m… I’m going to put my all into it! Yeah!” Ann’s mood picked up instantly as she stood up and had a new skip in her step, especially catching Ren off guard. He was pleased though. Nobody could take that away from him.

“Someone is happy.” the boy stayed seated as Ann looked down upon him, still wiping her eyes as she wasn’t that far off breaking down once again whilst Ren was there. He had made her realise that she just needed to be confident in herself and her ambitions, even if it was just a simple suggestion and a few words. Ren’s reliability was just getting greater and greater.

“You know Ren, being with you really helps me see things clearly. Even as Joker, you spot out things that none of us would have even thought of.” Ann sat back down again, looking up at his face. “I swear you have some sort of secret power!”

It wasn’t exactly related to the main discussion, but Ren was holding a secret power, something that he used most of the time within the Metaverse and even had the capability to use it in the real world.

“... wouldn’t it be funny if I did have something like that?”

“I knew it! I knew it-”

“No, seriously.” he had to cut Ann off and chuckled, sitting up straightly. “I had a power given to me not too long after I had awakened to my Persona, that and the ability to wield multiple Personas at once and change at will. I’d call it my third eye.”

“You sound so cool when you say that.” she slightly blushed and at the same time, was curious to what this was all about. “What can you do then, huh?”

Ren not responding slightly worried Ann at first as he closed his eyes slightly and placed two fingers to his forehead, She didn’t exactly want to break his focus and just awkwardly sat back and waited for him to say something. Meanwhile, Ren had the third eye active, peering around the living room as nothing seems to be of importance. He fully opens his eyes and places his hands over his lap again.

“I’m not surprised anything is coming up here, there’s no immediate threats or dangers. An example of where this could work would be in a palace or Mementos. Shadows, treasure, etcetera. Being the leader ain’t so bad when your senses are multiplied by a hundred.” Ren said confidently, laying back as Ann went to go and talk when they both get notifications coming through on their phones.

“Oh, that must be the group chat which means…” Ann started, taking her phone out and opening the Phantom Thieves’ group to see one single message from Ryuji and just like that, the conversation began.

**Ryuji: Got some news… good and bad.**

**Ann: What have you done now?!**

**Ren: Ryuji, don’t tell me you and Mishima actually went through with what you showed me.**

**Ryuji: Uh**

**Ryuji: Well**

**Ann: ?????????**

**Ryuji: Ren, I’m messaging you.**

“URGH! Boys, I swear…” she let out a deep sigh and instead of laying back on the sofa, Ann leaned her head over and on Ren’s shoulder. It surprised Ren at first, but it felt good enough so he went along with it as another text message notification popped up, this time from Ryuji alone.

**Ryuji: Bro, Operation: Maidwatch went to shit!**

“ **MAIDWATCH?!** ” Ann was shouting over Ren’s shoulder and being right by his ear, he had to grit his teeth and bear it as he started to text his response back.

**Ren: Let me guess, the maid saw you guys were high schoolers and left in a second?**

**Ryuji: Worse!**

**Ryuji: How do I put this?**

**Ren: Put what? It can’t be that bad unless they’re telling the school.**

**...**

**Ryuji: Dude**

**Ryuji: It was fucking Kawakami.**

**…**

**Ren: You’re shitting me.**

**Ryuji: No bullshit. I’ll try and sum up what happened.**

* * *

 

Ryuji and Mishima had arrived to their location, it was a rather run down apartment complex that still had a lot of people residing in there as per the bright lights of various room windows. The two boys had completely opposite feelings about this issue, with Ryuji not waiting to see what this was all about and Mishima feeling like he was dragged along for compensation. After already getting dragged around by Sakamoto with the whole Kamoshida situation and nearly getting expelled because of it, in reality, he shouldn’t really be getting involved in any other issues that would result in drastic consequences if they were found out.

Before Mishima knew it, he was forced by Ryuji to pick up the phone and dial the maid agency, known to them from the advertisement as Victoria Housekeeping Services. He was beyond nervous, however with something that resembled encouragement from Ryuji, he didn’t request a preference of maid and before they knew it, Mishima was putting the phone down and the two boys had 20 minutes until their maid for the night arrived. Mishima had to rush off to the toilet and Ryuji decided to ‘accidentally’ make the kitchen, living room and one of the spare bedrooms messy in order to give the maid tasks to perform.

Another thing that Ryuji made sure to do was leave all of his laundry out on the side, filled with his tank tops, colourful t-shirts and many, many pairs of shorts. Mishima was asked by Ryuji about his own laundry and received only a “I already did my laundry.” as a response.

* * *

 

**Knock. Knock.**

“Ah! She’s here! Holy shit... “

The hairs on Ryuji’s neck couldn’t stick up any higher as he felt a slight chill running through his entire body, thinking this might be one of the greatest experiences he’s had. Mishima on the other hand was an absolute nervous wreck, holding his blue hair; eyes darting around as he escaped into the kitchen.

“It worked… it actually worked…” Mishima said as he looked towards from Ryuji across the apartment, trying to signal that he should be the one who answers the door. The blonde placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, taking one final deep breath and taking a step forward… before a sign of hesitation hit and he didn’t move any further in front. “I never actually thought we’d get to this stage. Well, Mishima. This is do or die and I want a damn good experience to go home with!”

“Sakamoto-kun!”

“Are you there? The door is open.”

The female adult voice called from outside and within a second, Ryuji’s face was bright red and Mishima peeked out from around the corner to look at what was going on. Ryuji shook his head as he reached his right arm slowly forward, gripping his hand around the door handle and gulping down.

“... I can do this… I’m a man…” he said, shaking his head and grinning as he started to open the door and awkwardly poked an eye out to get a good look at the maid in question. It was everything that he saw and wanted, wearing the same maid outfit that was seen in the advertisement. Her jet black hair was done up in pigtails and she bowed as Ryuji barely peered out of from the apartment block.

“Hello, master. How may I serve you today?” the adult maid said as she started to walk towards the door and Ryuji let her in, turning his back and quickly walking away so he was by the door leading to the balcony overseeing the city. Ryuji was sweating buckets already as he looked around for any signs of Mishima.

Nope, nowhere.

 _M-master? She called me **MASTER?!**_ Ryuji was shouting in his own head, literally shouting and not knowing what to do as he was alone in this. Mishima was probably hiding under one of the beds.

“H-hello there, miss uh… m-miss…” he grumbled under his breath, a drop of sweat falling from his chin as it hit the floor. The maid tilted her head to the side as she approached Ryuji slowly, causing him to continue to move his face away from her view.

“I’m Becky and I have the pleasure of serving you today!” she said, Ryuji could identify the sense of love in her voice as the blonde slowly turned around and had some more confidence to him, gulping down as he tried to appear as tall as possible, proudly standing up with the worst poker face anybody could ask for. “We provide the basics like laundry, cooking cleaning… or if master requests it, there are some ‘ **special** ’ services we can give out…”

If you took somebody who had just ran a mile non-stop and Ryuji Sakamoto, Ryuji would still be the one sweating at a faster rate and his heart nearly stopped at the “special services”. The maid then looked over at Ryuji, a disappointed look on her face as she walked backwards.

“Hmm. You’re skin looks very healthy, master. Could you perhaps… be in high school?”

SHIT!

“I-I’m a d-dad....”

That was possibly the worst response somebody like Ryuji could say in this situation.

“Well, master. I think we’ll have to wait until you mature until we offer those services. I’ll be on my way no-”

She suddenly stopped and turned around, looking Ryuji up and down as if she recognised him. The hair, the face, the physique… no, she knew him! The infamous Ryuji Sakamoto, troublemaker of Shujin Academy, a second-year student that was on the brink of getting expelled just a few weeks ago.

“Wait, are you… Sakamoto-san?”

Ryuji’s heart stopped as he had his first good look at the maid, not realising that the person he and Mishima had requested was none other than somebody he knew. This wasn’t just any ordinary maid, this was… this was Kawakami! The teacher who the Phantom Thieves had heard from the leader of a bully circle and somebody who had reprimanded him on various accounts.

“ **MISS KAWAKAMI?!** ” he shouted out loud, nearly falling backwards on the floor as Mishima came out of hiding and opened the bedroom door thinking that Ryuji was in trouble. “Sakamoto-kun! Are you oka-”

Mishima saw it as well, but as opposed to Ryuji just seeing her as a teacher from Shujin, this was Mishima’s own homeroom teacher and he shrieked out loud as Kawakami was already walking towards Ryuji before delivering an impactful slap across the face! Ryuji reeled backwards and held his cheek, knowing that he was in deep trouble as everything from then on become a blur…

… mostly because it felt like he was being lectured all over again.

* * *

 

**Ryuji: That’s the jist of things.**

**Ryuji: Oh, and please don’t tell Ann about this.**

**Ren: Why do you say that?**

**Ryuji: I see her getting all worked up over the fact I actually called a maid to try and pleasure me.**

Ren realised that Ann had left the comfort of his shoulder some time ago as he saw her on the other side of the couch, phone in hand and eyes that could kill anybody. The leader of the Phantom Thieves had never felt fear like it as he could only think what Ann was texting to the Phantom Thieves group chat.

**Ann: RYUJI**

**Ann: WHAT THE HELL**

**Ann: EVEN ARE YOU?**

**Ryuji: Hey! What is this all about? I haven’t done anything for once!**

**Ann: YOU DO REALISE THAT REN IS AT MY PLACE RIGHT NOW YOU IDIOT**

**Ryuji: Wait, shit! He is?**

**Ren: I’m guilty as charged.**

**Ryuji: You could have at least told me! The bro code, man!**

**Ren: I think there’s somebody else who you should be more concerned with right now.**

**Ann: I actually can’t believe that YOU would try to call a maid service and it ended up being our homeroom teacher!**

**Ryuji: *your homeroom teacher.**

**Ann: NOT MY POINT!**

**Ryuji: Look, I said I had good news and this is what I found out.**

**Ryuji: Kawakami said that she was reporting both myself and Mishima to the school if we didn’t gather 50,000 yen each before the end of the month.**

**Ren: 50,000?**

**Ann: Only you would get yourself into such a situation!**

**Ren: Hear him out.**

**Ryuji: Think about it. She wants money, what did the shadow of that student say?**

**Ren: The bully circle. Bingo. I believe that she is part of this maid service to earn money for her own gain or for something else, asking for 50,000 yen is unheard of, especially from teacher to student.**

**Ann: I can get mad at you tomorrow, Ryuji. Ren is right though, she really is like this…**

**Ryuji: I wanna confirm something with you, Ren. Morgana too.**

**Ren: He’s not here.**

**Ryuji: Oh, yeah. Ann’s place, gotcha.**

**Ren: You want to know if Kawakami has a palace, right?**

**…**

**Ryuji: Yeah…**

**…**

**Ren: She does. There’s only one issue…**

**Ann: What is it?**

**…**

**Ren: The location of the distortion isn’t Shujin Academy.**


	4. Zipper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William Reed is back on a case of his own with no contact from his employers in over a week, this time he's going undercover in Shujin Academy. On the other hand, the Phantom Thieves finally look to secure a breakthrough that will help them discover Sadayo Kawakami's Palace and the source of her desires.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**15/05/16**

* * *

 

“Detective W. Reed. Uh… I’m here at Shujin Academy located in Tokyo, Japan. Shujin has received a lot of negative press lately after one of its teachers, a certain Suguru Kamoshida, was arrested and charged by the police on multiple accounts of physical abuse and sexual harassment towards multiple students, even resulting in the suicide attempt of a student that I myself have yet to discover the name of.”

“It has been over a week since headquarters last contacted myself and my fellow detectives. In all honesty, that doesn’t exactly surprise me. We’re the youngest recruits in the entire organisation and we’ve been living in a previously unknown country for over two years. Do I miss my family? Do I miss the United Kingdom?”

…

He sighed.

**“No, no I don’t.”**

The chuckle that William emitted was one of regret, yet satisfaction. He lifted the phone back up to his lips, leaning against the brick wall in the alleyway.

“My intentions here today are simple. I am posing as a brand new teaching assistant that was hired only a few days ago as part of a foreign exchange, however, with my knowledge of Japanese, blending in should be much easier. Suguru Kamoshida was the sole reason this school is looked down upon, I want to know more.”

He ended the audio recording on his phone and lifted it down, making sure to notice a slow stream of students before placing the device into his trouser pocket. William stepped forward and walked with his hands down by his side, attempting to act although he was late and didn’t know where he was going. The funny thing is that William did not know where he was going, instead darting for the steps leading up to the main entrance of the academy. His attire was that of what he believed to be the custom for such a position as a teacher, well, teaching assistant. The long red tie and black buttoned up shirt matched the colours of Shujin, the jet black trousers also helped, however from further inspection, the pattern of the trousers worn by students could have easily been replicated and had William kicking himself that he didn’t just disguise himself as a student.

_Actually, yeah, that would have been a lot better._

“Fuckin’ look away, jeez…” William muttered and headed inside the building, coming to the entrance as there were no signs of teachers. He could tell that this school wasn’t very great on the security front, anybody could just walk in here and somehow, it made it so much easier for him to blend in.

Then, someone caught his eye, or a group of students.

It was a girl and two boys, only one of them was dressed formally to the Shujin Academy style whilst the others had their own personalised outfits of sorts. The blonde boy had a bright yellow shirt underneath his blazer whilst the girl had a white hoodie. William retrieved his phone out and pressed the record button on the already opened voice recorder app, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms to try and fit in as somebody of high authority.

“We need to discover these keywords. That’s our main mission for today and if it isn’t **Shujin Academy** , where else could it be?”

“I dunno man, we found out **Kamoshida’s** on complete accident…”

 

**BEEP**

 

“Another **castle** wouldn’t be too bad.”

 

**BEEP**

 

“Kawakami definitely doesn’t share the same beliefs as that **pervert** , it must be something more unique.”

 

**Checking destination. The destination is unavailable.**

 

_Was… was that my phone?_

A monotonous and robotic voice emitted out from Will’s pocket, coming straight from his phone as he pulled it out, showing the mysterious app was now open and displaying an error message of sorts. He looked around and propped his fake rounded glasses up, turning his back away from the group as he closed the app and stared directly at the red and black eye logo of it.

Meanwhile, the group he was observing had picked up on the fact that they had heard the usual sound of the Meta-Nav application. Ryuji Sakamoto was the first to speak up and started looking around, taking out his phone and seeing that nothing was on his screen. Ann Takamaki had barely noticed what he went on, leaning back against a wall and browsing the Phan-Site. Ren Amamiya had his eyes on someone else though, seeing William turn around with his phone down by his side as the two engaged in a silent staredown with each other.

“... hmph. It’s not nice to stare, kid.” William said after a few seconds as he smirked and headed off down the corridor, sliding the phone back into his pocket.

Ren’s expression didn’t change from the usual straight face he always seemed to have, looking to Morgana as the cat nodded to him. “You heard what I heard, didn’t you?” the feline said, trying to keep his voice down from Ryuji and Ann as the former was looking at a forum post on the Phan-Site on Ann’s phone. On the other hand, Ren was observing as the young adult walked away with his hands in his pockets. Was he a teacher? His facial features and body structure indicated that he was most likely in his early-20s, not a teenager, but not an older adult at all like most, if not all of the teachers here at Shujin. His attire matched the colours of Shujin, however the most alarming feature was…

… “we should go back to using the Meta-Nav when school is out.” spoke Ann as she placed a hand on Ren’s shoulder to snap him out of his trance of sorts, stopping his thinking process as Ryuji joined the leader to his right. “I agree, bro. You looked deep in thought for a second there. Anything catch your eye?”

Ren just smiled, pushing his glasses up as they gleamed.

“Not at the moment.”

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**15/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

The school day had once again come to an end, something that William Reed had been anticipating for too long as he let out a deep breath and loosened the red tie around his neck so it draped over his shoulders. In reality, he had patrolled the corridors and outside when students were approachable, whilst the moments in class usually had him leave the building and stand outside to report back his findings to fellow detectives, Robbie and Alexander. They were on their own now in Japan as headquarters had been unreachable ever since the group all received upgrades on their phones.

“Maybe it’s just all one big coincidence, that’s how I would see it anyway.” said Robbie, leaning against the same wall William was. Robbie shook around his head and let his ginger hair fly about, for somebody who was technically representing the government, he didn’t exactly present himself as such. Alexander was the complete opposite as he always seemed to carry a sense of honour with him, the blonde hair made him a target for certain people’s eyes and usually not in a good way. William always tried to meet the high standards, however fell short due to his own upbringing and how he handled himself.

“On a real, they nag us for two years and now when we think on our own, there’s no response.” William spoke, twisting his mouth into a smile. “It’s fine though, it’s fine.”

Alexander stepped forward and made sure to keep an eye out on each student that passed by the entrance way. After a few seconds, the blonde turned to William and scratched his cheek.

“Are you sure that this is a lead? Who am I looking out for again?” he asked, fairly curious as William semi-face planted, stepping off and standing alongside him, chewing a piece of gum in his mouth. “Learn to listen. I got a hunch on more of that Kamoshida; heard these three students talking about him and what I presume is another teacher. They might know more.”

Robbie didn’t step forward and continued to lean backwards, “Go after them yourself then, why are you dragging us into this when we could be off investigating that nightclub we have intel on.”

“No, Robbie. I don’t want to be dragged on another one of your outings…”

He paused for a moment and turned around to hold a finger up.

“... for now, next week, alright?” The other detective nodded backwards and raised a thumb up. “You have a deal.”

“And the reason I wanted either of you two to trail them has to do with the fact that one of them knows my face. I kept an eye on them throughout the day and unfortunately, this one fella always seemed to notice me every single time.”

“Can I have a description?” this came from Alexander who again, had his eyes darting in and out of the crowd of students, awaiting the eventual targets.

“The one to watch out for has black frizzled hair, glasses, blazer is buttoned up with a white turtleneck underneath. There’s a second boy, spiked up blonde hair, blazer is undone with a designer shirt underneath. Then finally a girl. She has her hair in twintails and also has her blazer undone, white hoodie underneath. The good thing about this group is they all stand out from other students…”

“To the station squaaaaare!” shouted a voice from the bottom of the stairs as each young detective turned their attention to the scene and William’s eyes widening showed that he had found what he was looking for. Quickly, he nudged Alexander with his arm and gestured for Robbie to come and join them.

“Easy as that. You’re up, lads.”

“We’re up!”

“Keep your voices down, act natural, act normal.”

Robbie walked in front of William and made sure to pop his collar down, buttoning up the top button and pulling down his shirt. Alexander dusted down his jacket and took out a pair of sunglasses from the front jacket pocket, placing them over his eyes as the two began to trail the group from a distance. William himself was satisfied, taking the smartphone back out from his pocket and turning back to walk down the opposite way to his partners. He once again scrolled over to the mysterious application that had randomly triggered inside of the school.

_What did it mean? A destination?_

“A coffee break might just help me make some goddamn sense of this.” William grumbled to himself as the young adult removed the glasses from his face and slid them into his trouser pocket, walking off and towards the direction of the train station.

On the other side of the street, Robbie Allister and Alexander Smith had a fairly easy time in following the three students that William had pointed out to them. There was a very clear leader of the group, that being the frizzled haired boy with a bag slung over his shoulder and a… a cat?

Robbie leaned over to quietly speak to the fellow detective, “I can already tell we’ve got an odd one, the fucker has a cat in his bag. Poor thing.”

“Not everybody can be perfect in this world, Robbie.” said Alexander as the incoming crowd of students gave them little room to blend in and instead found themselves heading off towards central street.

* * *

  
**Shibuya**

**15/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

The group of Ren, Ryuji, Morgana and Ann had been mindlessly going about their day in Shibuya, meant to be a relaxing outing, although the whole pressure of Ryuji and Mishima having to get 50,000 yen to Kawakami if they were not only meant to keep their school reputation, but their reputation in general after what had happened. Morgana made sure to belittle Ryuji as much as he could, mostly subtly as the last thing they needed at the moment was another argument between the two with a potential palace on the horizon. Every few minutes, Ren would pull out his phone and everyone in the group would contribute in attempting to find out the location. All they had so far was the name, Sadayo Kawakami.

After some more shopping and not a lot of success with the Meta-Nav app, the group came to their usual spot of station square as Ryuji took a seat on a nearby bench with Ren joining him. Ann was conducting her own research on the Phan-Site, looking to see if that would yield any leads simply because of how the group ended up on this case. That being a few posts on the Phan-Site about the bully circle which led them to the Kawakami discovery.

“Still nothing?” she asked the boys as Ryuji shuffled around in his seat, pulling out his phone and groaning. “There has to be something we’re missing!” Ryuji exclaimed and placed his right hand to his forehead. “Y’know, honestly… we gotta do this, I don’t even know where I can find 100,000 yen and my ma’ would kill me if I asked her for that much.”

“Wait… 100,000? I thought it was only 50,000?” said Ren, looking over at Ryuji and pushing up his glasses. “Nope, Kawakami saw me walking down the corridor and took me to one side, said some complications came up and boom. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mishima was told the exact same thing.”

“You must have done something, Ryuji! We told you that you need to be careful in and around school!” Morgana jumped out of Ren’s bag and sat up on the arm of the bench nearest to Ren himself, not wanting to feel the wrath of the blonde by sitting too close to him.

“Goddamn it, Morgana! I didn’t do shit!” Ryuji was nearly shouting at this point and Ren held his arm up, motioning for the pair to stop as to any passerby could see that the boy was shouting at a random cat which was just meowing back to him. “Stop it. I believe that Ryuji didn’t do anything, so please lay off of him for one day, okay Morgana?”

The tension between them dissipated for now, Ann then looked over at Ren as his phone was held out for the group to see.

“This might be our last attempt for the day. Remember, the sooner we gain access to her palace, the better.” the leader said, of course, realising that a lot of places could be ruled out and there were few locations left in Shibuya to input. They had tried the school, certain rooms in the school, the train station, even the apartment Ryuji pointed out that both he and Mishima used to request the maid service that turned out to be Kawakami.

Nothing was working out.

Just nothing.

“Ah! I swear man, it’s like we’ve been through **all of Shibuya**. Where the hell could it-” Ryuji started to state as he was interrupted by the sound of Ren’s phone.

 

**Location discovered.**

 

“Wait! I mean… yeah, I got it! … what did I say though?”

“Looking here…” Ren spoke, holding his phone out again, “... she thinks of her palace as ‘all of Shibuya’, that’s rather strange for a teacher of Shujin. Could it be linked to that maid service or even other services we don’t know about?”

“Possibly. These teachers really are twisted if that’s the case…” Ann began to think for herself about the final piece of the puzzle needed to access their next destination. After accidentally stumbling across Kamoshida’s Palace, this was her first time (and everyone else’s considering Ren and Ryuji also accidentally found the Metaverse) thinking of keywords to enter such a place. To the group, the app and the Metaverse was something they still wished to be fully able to wrap their heads around.

Morgana was a blessing in cases like this.

_Think, Ren, think…_

This was the thing was Ms. Kawakami. Ren had only attended Shujin Academy for a short period of time and she felt… carefree about her job, there was no real malice in her teaching or whenever she spoke to him. Ren knew that there was a good chance he was overthinking a lot of things, but something didn’t seem right about this situation or Shujin Academy. If Kobayakawa knew what was going on with Kamoshida and technically pulling the strings behind all of it for the ‘school’s benefit’...

Yoshimori, they called him a ringleader…

A flashback appeared in his head to a time in class, Kawakami literally calling the class “clowns” when they refused to listen to a lecture…

The students could be considered performers...

…

That’s it!

**“A circus.”**

Ren held his phone up as it didn’t take long to register what he just said, the others looking over.

 

**Destination discovered. Beginning navigation.**

 

They didn’t have a choice now.

* * *

**Kawakami’s Palace**

**15/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

From the moment the app activated and sent the quartet into the Metaverse, nothing seemed to be amiss apart from a rather red sky up above and the absence of people walking around like it was with Mementos. In the real world, they had simply vanished into nothingness and the glaring factor was that each member of the Phantom Thieves was already in their get-up. Ren, or Joker as he now referred to by, examined himself and made sure he was prepared, the rest of the thieves doing the same thing and looking around for any signs of a distortion. Ann stepped forward first and darted her eyes upwards and around the station square, it’s emptiness being rather eerie and the red tint of the sky reflecting down also contributing to it.

“There’s no sign of anything like a castle,” she started to pace around and look for any sort of life apart from themselves. “Looks like we’re a threat as well…”

“Remember, we are supposed to be investigating all of Shibuya. We should move elsewhere to locate the source of the distortion, because that’s where we’ll find the treasure.” Joker took charge of the operation as he slid his hands into his trench coat pockets and started walking towards central street, seeing nothing of notice in the station square.

“Leader, I recommend that we split up into teams in order to further search the area!” Mona tried to keep his spirits up after witnessing what Ren and Ann had said the other day, choosing now to make his move as Ren smiled at the idea. “Good plan, how are we doing this then? There’s four of us so that’s two pairs.”

“I would request to go with you, dear Pant-”

“Joker! Can I go with you?”

Panther completely spoke over the top of Mona and didn’t even look towards him as she stood by Joker’s side, leaving Skull to not even get a word in as he walked forward and scratched the back of his head, staring down at the now more human feline and sighing. “You and me then, Mona-Mona, we ain’t changing Panther’s mind once she’s got it set.”

“This works out well. I believe that you two need a chance to bond together anyway,” Joker started to split off from the other two as he beckoned Panther over in his direction as she skipped along at his call. Meanwhile, Skull and Mona just looked towards each other in bemusement at their leader’s words. “Oh, come on you know that I’m right. Skull, this. Mona, that. We’re all in this together and we have no time for simple spats when there’s an objective to work towards.”

Skull decided to step forward, nodding confidently and raising a thumb up towards Joker, a slight grin on his face. “You can count on us!”

Mona shook his head, this wasn’t about his affection, this was now about the Phantom Thieves and making sure they became a bigger group in society. The cat companion of the group knew that despite their second official mission involved another teacher from Shujin Academy, the school itself would gain more attention if another confession happened. There was just something about this certain case that troubled Mona, almost feeling the same way that Ren did about it. He couldn’t trust anybody though, especially a known enemy to the Phantom Thieves that was partly due to Skull and the failed Operation: Maidwatch.

He had to focus. **They** had to focus.

“Leave it to Skull and I, Joker. No matter what, we’ll do our best.” Mona stood up fully and decided that it would be him who would take charge in this situation, quickly starting up a run as the other thieves to eventually break out into a jog to catch up to him. Being the current primary navigator and tactician for the team, Mona took a more hands on approach after that last self-confidence boost.

“If I can remember this place from my view inside Joker’s school bag, we can split off into the north and south. Joker, Panther, you two can take up top whilst Skull and I will start our search from the bottom. We should meet in the middle and hopefully, we’ll have a good idea on the stronghold that will be holding that sweet, sweet treasure!”

“Damn, Mona. You’re getting fired up!” Skull said, running ahead of the group slightly as per his background as a member of the track team. “How about you guys?” He looked towards Joker and Panther who were also in conversation with each other, albeit slightly quieter than Skull’s shouts as Joker turned towards him.

“You already know my answer.”

* * *

**Yongen-Jaya**

**15/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

“Ah, you’re ba-”

Sojiro’s voice stopped as he expected Ren to come through the door after a day of school and instead found himself facing a rather young adult wearing a buttoned up black shirt, the top button undone and a red tie hanging loose around his neck. The owner of Leblanc soon retracted what he was about to say and got back to business, making a cup of coffee for somebody who was already sitting at the bar. That person was Sae Niijima, having already tried the coffee at Leblanc recently and she was back again. For Sae, it had been another long day at work and sitting back and enjoying coffee felt like the only way she could relax.

William Reed had been situated inside of Shujin Academy and had obtained information on Suguru Kamoshida, the former teacher who appeared on the news and was now in police custody. For his own benefits and potentially MI5’s, he was building a case on the academy themselves to discover if anything else was amiss. Walking into Leblanc, he immediately felt quite warm in the place. It was very welcoming and the atmosphere made him feel right at home…

… well, his vision of home.

“Were you expecting somebody else? I apologise for intruding, ha.” William noticed that the owner had started speaking as he opened the door, so seeing the detective wasn’t who he was expecting. “It’s a public coffee shop, don’t mind me.” Sojiro took the small plate with the brew on top of it, slowly sliding it over to the prosecutor who leaned her elbows against the wooden surface and didn’t even smile as she subtly thanked Sakura for the drink.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

Sae looked up at the man who just walked in, not thinking much of the situation. “Of course not.” That was all that it took for William to pull out a stool and take a seat, looking over at Sojiro who crossed his arms. “What can I get you then? From what I can tell, you’re a first timer around here.”

“Ah, yeah… it’s a quiet neighbourhood to say the least. It’s a really nice place you have here.” William smiled just slightly and then remembered that he at least had to order something, his mind was blank though and all that filled it was his reports he had to make tonight and the investigation he carried out today. “... um, I’ll take what you recommend.”

“Suit yourself, coming right up.”

The elder Niijima sister noticed something in the man’s voice, the Japanese was perfect however the accent he spoke in resembled that of something outside of Japan as a whole. His look also indicated that he was from outside of Japan and Sae was intrigued, taking another sip of her coffee and laying it down to turn to William. “I’m sorry for asking, but may I ask where you are from? That accent says it all.”

William was happy to comply with her request, first taking off the loose tie and letting it rest on the back of his neck, chuckling slightly as she had quickly caught on to his heritage. “You’re a good one. I come from the United Kingdom.”

“How long have you been here? Is it a business trip or just a holiday?” William felt like he was getting interrogated here, although the tone of Sae’s voice indicated otherwise as it was rather warming. “I guess you could say a business trip, it’s work to say. And when I mean business trip, I mean a whole two year trip.”

Two years? She thought to herself, that’s a long time for an overseas job.

“It must be hard then, adjusting to a brand new country. You’ve been here for quite some time so I expect that you’ve happened to settle in rather well.” Sae took another sip of her coffee. “Can I ask what type of work you do?”

William thought to himself, lying about being a detective wouldn’t do him well for the future and in all honesty, he didn’t have to straight up say he was an agent from MI5 to prove himself as one. “I’m a detective. My workplace thought it would be beneficial for me to be situated in a country like Japan.”

“A detective? You remind me of somebody who is situated in the police department around here.” Sae responded back and still didn’t manage to make any sort of smile, keeping that stoic expression as William looked over to Sojiro making his coffee. “I’ve been working on some cases for the police myself, however my main role resides in being a public prosecutor.”

That was a surprise. The last thing William wanted was for somebody to actually be involved in the police department around here and this woman clearly held a high position of sorts as a prosecutor. It worried him that his identity would already be uncovered, however… another idea came to mind, one that would involve the unthinkable and yet it if it worked out, William’s investigation could advance much quicker than he thought with somebody involved in Tokyo. “Hmm. That’s quite interesting, such a job puts a lot of stress on you, right?”

“It depends.” Sae’s expression still didn’t change as she started to sip some more of the coffee, nearly finishing the cup as Sojiro passed over a second cup to William who took it across and bowed his head. “It’s the house blend, the same as what I give everyone who wants something to start out with.” the owner spoke as he went over to keep watch of the door, awaiting that troublesome transfer student to walk through at any moment.

“Thank you,” William lifted his cup and tasted the coffee, for somebody who did enjoy his fair share of tea, the coffee tasted sublime and just right to his liking. He definitely had a new regular location to sit down and relax. “I didn’t introduce myself either, my name’s William Reed. Will or William is fine.”

Sae finished her coffee and placed it back down, leaving the cup on the small plate and standing up. She looked over at William and somehow managed a slight smile, reaching into her bag and pulling out a business card, holding it out to the young detective.

“Sae Niijima. You said you were a detective, yes?” William took the business card, definitely more for the whole ‘prosecutor’ part of her job as he slid it into his own pocket. “Yeah, something like that.”

Before he could ask her any other questions, Sae had headed for the door and said “Thank you” for the coffee as well as a goodbye to both Sojiro and William. He remained seated as he could peer outside the door to see Sae herself ran into another young man. As William went to go take another sip of his coffee when the door opened and the bell rang, he didn’t look up until the voice of the owner called out once more.

“Ah, you’re back.”

Ren Amamiya walked in and he looked absolutely exhausted, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes as he soon placed the glasses back on and adjusted the black blazer that had a few of the buttons undone. “Sorry for being slightly later than usual.”

“Don’t stress it, kid. As long as you’re not causing any trouble out there.” Sojiro looked towards William first and then up at Ren once again, making sure the teen he was taking care of knew who was in charge once more. “You’re helping me clean up then, got it?”

Ren nodded and started to walk across and towards where his room was located in the attic when the two boys in the coffee shop itself caught each other’s attention. Without fully knowing it, they had met earlier and both of them knew it as William hadn’t of changed his attire whatsoever apart from taking the tie off from around his neck. The young detective had just finished his coffee by the time Ren was heading up the stairs and stood up himself, making sure he had everything and looking back to see the frizzled hair boy walk up the stairs with a cat noticeably hanging out of his bag.

First at Shujin Academy, now here…

… who exactly was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll have to wait until the next chapter to discover what exactly went on in Kawakami's Palace, however on another note, I'm really enjoying this series so far and writing it has been a blast. Thank you for all the feedback so far! :)


	5. Weight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves have gained access to Sadayo Kawakami's palace and distorted desires, in which they attempt to make sense of her situation and what exactly the conflict is in her life. One member proves to be a valuable key to gaining access, whilst another doesn't know how to express their true feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read!
> 
> I'm changing up the chatlogs so it matches more of what you would expect in real life. Each member of the group will have their own personal nicknames that could change throughout, however in one-on-one conversations, their real name will always be highlighted. Each thief will also type differently. For example, Ryuji and Ann will be prone to no capitalization and punctuation, Ren will be in the middle, whilst others (you can guess who!) who are introduced later on will use proper capitalization and punctuation. 
> 
> That's just a small update and I'll be going back to edit chatlogs of previous chapters that featured them to match this new change. Thank you!

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**15/05/16**

* * *

 

The Phantom Thieves had their next big heist ahead of them as Sadayo Kawakami’s distorted desires had opened up to them in the form of her palace. After being found out to have embezzled money from students and who knows who else, Ryuji Sakamoto himself was under the threat of being forced to pay up some cold hard cash after calling a maid service and finding it to be Kawakami herself. The group had made it into the palace via the Meta-Nav application on their phones and had been recognized as threats from the very beginning. Through Ren, or as he would now be referred to as Joker, and his intuition about finding the entrance to the palace itself, the group were split into two to look through the distorted Shibuya in order to find what they were looking for.

The first duo was Skull and Mona, surprisingly, neither were problematic as they looked around the familiar area of Shibuya and then at the dark red sky and black clouds to realise that this really wasn’t the same place. Mona was the one who pointed out that the people walking around seemed to be… loose? Their limbs flailed around and it was like somebody had them all on strings, and if that was the case, the thin lines of string were extremely well hidden to the naked eye. Skull found out the hard way that these people weren’t normal as he tried to approach one of them.

“Yo-”

“TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL!” the shadow passerby shouted to the blonde boy as they seemed to throw money at Skull himself. Mona heard what was going on and ran to his side, seeing coins and bills on the floor as the strings on said shadow hoisted them up and out of view. To say that both boys were gobsmacked was an understatement. Skull looked down to where the shadow was originally and then kneeled down to examine one of the bills.

“Am I legit that scary?” he said with a sigh, turning the bill over as it bared a similar red tint to that of the sky, obviously it wouldn’t be real here. “It’s the mask isn’t it?”

“No, Skull. This must be a result of Kawakami’s cognition. Think about it, she’s forcing others to cough up money as we have seen with those other students. This just proves that there have been others and at this point, it’s second nature to them to hand over their money.” Morgana hopped across central street and looked across at other similar human-like shadows, their arms held up in the air and legs devoid of much movement apart from swaying.

“Have you two found anything yet?”

The male voice came from nearby as Joker and Panther strolled up to see Skull kneeling on the ground and inspecting the ‘shadow’ yen on the ground. In their travels on the opposite side of town, Joker and Panther could say all they want about searching for the palace entrance when in fact they were getting to know each other just that little bit more. Panther had another update on Shiho which made Joker that little bit happier that Panther’s best friend’s condition was ultimately picking up. The sights of central street in Shibuya were… nice, in a way. They then had to remember that they were in the Metaverse and Panther pointed out that some of the stores had bold ‘CLOSED’ signs placed firmly on the doors, even her favourite sweet shop had one.

Remembering the task at hand, they heard a shout from across the street and jogged over to where we are now. Skull stood up from kneeling down and cracked his knuckles a few times, looking down at the fallen shadow of a person. “This is what Kawakami is doing to people, huh? That's what Mona is saying.” he said and started looking around at other shadows with the skin of regular passersbys who were just going about their day in this twisted place like it was nothing.

“They all look so… hurt.” Joker pointed out as he saw somebody else just shiver at the slight connection of material against another person’s jacket. “Kawakami really did all this to these people… no, this must be…”

Panther saw that their leader was thinking intensely to himself and decided to try and look around for something, looking up in the sky as something suddenly came into her line of sight. It was a bright object in the sky and was floating ever so closer to the street they were in, too high up in the air for any sort of reach and still too far away for any closer inspection. “Guys! Look up!” she shouted and pointed up to the unidentified flying object that was in no way related to a UFO. “Do you think that’s it?”

Joker stepped forward with Mona now on his shoulder and took a closer look at the large platform in the sky, a mix of red and white that made up a large tent was floating on said platform as it started to lower towards the city. “We have an eye on the destination.” the leader said, slipping his hands into his pockets and walking forward a few more steps to get a closer look.

“It’s not close at all… but there’s treasure up there alright.”

* * *

**Circus of Greed**

**15/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

“Tell me one thing you guys, how the hell are we getting up there?! It’s in the damn sky!” Skull shouted, the loudmouth he was, gesturing towards the gazebo that had found its place just above the city. It wasn’t reachable as the group started to question how they would get up there. Mona had confirmed after all that it was where they would find the treasure.

“Sooooo, maybe there’s like some magic passage that leads up there?” Panther looked up, her hand just above her eyes to get a better view of the platform. All she got was the eyes from Skull in response. “You serious? That ain’t it.” he said and stepped forward himself, triggering something from the edge of the platform as a flurry of red and white ribbons started to float in from above. The look on everyone’s face said it all as Skull kept stepping forward, seeing more of the ribbon staircase form as it eventually would fall all the way to the ground in which the street was situated.

Panther smirked and bit down on her lip, looking over at the blonde who went to go and step forward onto the staircase. “And you were saying?” she was clearly in quite a good mood now as Skull turned around himself. “Shuddup!”

“It’s quite funny, Skull. You’re the key to creating our way up there.” Joker said from behind the two and stepped in front of the trio, first testing the ground that was the ribbon pathway and seeing if it stood up. After a few stomps and even a step up and down, he threw a thumbs up to the group. “Even though the material wouldn’t hold up in the real world… yeah, I suppose that’s just the Metaverse.”

The trio followed their leader up the steps as Skull brought up an interesting point, not bothering to keep his voice down as he shouted right to the side of Joker before then finding himself leading the group as a whole. “Hey… hey! You still ain’t explained how I’m the key to getting up here!”

Joker held a hand up, continuing the fairly brisk walk behind Skull as he looked towards Mona near the back, hands still in his pockets as he gestured for the feline to give a good explanation. “Out of everybody in our current group, you Skull, are the only one who owes Kawakami a sum of money. Her cognition is that you’re coming up to the treasure in order to pay your dues.” Mona skipped forward as the group looked off to the side, seeing the city slowly disappear behind them as the sight of the platform became clearer and clearer.

Panther was at the back of the line as the other boys went ahead, however Joker saw her concern as the street and city just magically faded away and nudged her slightly, a grin on his face.

“Scared of heights?”

“No, now get up there, you.”

* * *

 

The Phantom Thieves had reached the top of the platform, finding themselves on the circular base as they saw the red and white gazebo itself. It was huge up close, absolutely huge. They all looked for some sort of entrance and found no such thing near the front, Joker taking the first step forward as he looked towards his teammates, reaching to the side of his trenchcoat and pulling out his trusty dagger.

“This is for the worst case scenario-” he didn’t even get to finish before Skull interrupted with a groan and stepped forward with his club hanging over his shoulder. He walked up and towards the edge of the front of the tent, poking it and even going down on his hands and knees to look up and underneath it. “I found us our entrance, looks like we’ll have to do some sneaking about…” he said and went to pull out his right hand that he had used to lift up the edge of the gazebo.

Instead of being interrupted by a voice, the rest of the group watched as Skull went to remove his hand and Joker was the first to hear a yell come out from the blonde. “Ahhh! Shit, man! Shit!” Skull quickly removed his hand and held onto the yellow glove covering it, gritting his teeth as he stood up and dropped his bat out of the left hand.

“What happened?!” Panther was one to shout out loud as her, Joker and Mona rushed to their companion’s side, seeing him remove a hand away from the affected glove as a tint of red is seen on top in the shape of small holes. “.. heh, I guess that’s what I get for sticking my hand where it apparently don’t belong…” Skull said in response, still gritting his teeth with a slight smile on his face.

“Let’s just get this off for now.” Joker was one to care for the safety of his friends as he and Panther helped Skull get the glove off, showing that his skin had been pierced by some form of spike. “A few spikes got you good, it must be extra precaution for anybody trying to find Kawakami’s treasure or better yet, find out her secrets.”

“You’re on the ball today, Joker. You’re understanding the concept of the cognitive world some more, hmm?” Mona was hopping around the gazebo and trying to find an entrance himself without getting spiked like Skull just did. Meanwhile, Joker had pulled out some bandages from his trenchcoat pocket that were conveniently there and wrapped up his teammate’s hand in an instant. He helped Skull to his feet and passed him his glove back.

“It’s a bit bloody, but still. This job is all about getting our hands dirty.” Joker had a much more carefree tone to his voice compared to his shy demeanor outside of the Metaverse. He slipped his hands back in his pockets as Ryuji was raring to go once again, retrieving his bat as he spotted Mona quickly running off in the distance.

“We can talk later, there’s a cat on the loose…”

“ **I’M NOT A CAT!** ” even from far away, Mona was able to pick up the sound of Skull’s voice and the trio quickly caught up with their navigator, seeing he had found an insertion in the gazebo that looked too suspicion not to look into. “... anyway, I found this small slit. I figured that even if we find an entrance, we’ll attract too much attention to us.”

With a quick throw, Joker caught his trusty dagger and spun it around to show off some more as per his attitude when in this alternate version of reality. He got down on one knee and positioned the sharp end of the dagger right underneath the slit, pulling it upwards ever so slightly to see if it would cut through…

… and it did.

He continued to slide the blade upwards before handing his dagger off to Panther to his left, using both of his hands to push the small gap apart and make an actual entrance for the group to enter through. “My weapon.” Joker let his hand out to Ann as she gladly handed him back the dagger and unbeknownst to him, was envious inside over how easy he made this phantom thief job look. It was the good type of envy though, the real good type that made her want to improve even more.

“Okay, leader. We’ll follow your command.” Ann knelt down beside him as Joker placed his foot through the gap and pushed his head through to take a look at what was inside, so far it was complete darkness and he feared that something could come out at any point, but they had to do this, they had to steal this treasure as soon as possible. He turned around and nodded once more at the group.

They all stepped inside the gazebo and were ready for whatever was to come.

* * *

 

“I can’t see a damn thing…!”

“Ryuji! Keep your voice down!”

“You could say the same for yourself, Panther.”

“Wait…!”

Mona couldn’t help but shout out loud as the Phantom Thieves progressed along a very linear path from where they opened up their own entrance. A spotlight shone down from the ceiling and forced each member of the group to lift an arm up, two arms if you were Panther, to shield them from the light pouring down on them. Not all of the inside was lit up from it, however Joker made out multiple other small tents surrounding the group as well as the chatter and murmurs of other people, of course though they would simply be shadows and not humans.

A booming male voice sounded out over the entire gazebo, “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS OF ALL AGES! IT IS... “ a female voice now spoke alongside the male voice over what was most likely multiple speakers dotted around the inside of the gazebo.

“ **SHOWTIME!** ”

All of the lights came on inside the gazebo as the group withdrew their arms, all of them looking off in different directions as Panther was the only one to look forward and see what was in front of them. They were on a path of sorts and in front of them was a large, circular arena, gates surrounding the lower part of the walls of the arena and a cheering crowd made up of shadows were positioned behind the glass also surrounding the arena in a circle. Joker and Skull were facing the sides, Mona perched on Joker’s shoulder for some extra height as they all saw the same scenery as well as other smaller gazebos. There was no way out of this path, barriers stopping the thieves from going anywhere but forward.

“Could they have come up with a better introduction line?” Panther said and felt like it was an appropriate time to shout her thoughts towards the group, attempting to raise her voice higher than the cheering shadow crowd. “I dunno! We’ve been here for a few seconds and either the crowd loves us or I’m tripping big time!” Skull followed up with his own thoughts and saw that a large gate in front of them had opened up.

“Hmm…” Joker pondered the thought of this environment as the loudspeaker voices hadn’t spoken up to give them any directions, leading him to think that they had to step into the arena itself. “I have a feeling that as soon as we step into this arena, there’s going to be no way out until we fight something… or someone.” He kept his dagger out and beckoned for the group to follow him, stopping just before the opened gate.

“Stay together.” Joker said and waited for his teammates to catch up to him, all of them walking in a line into the arena as the gate suddenly slammed shut behind him, giving Panther a slight jump as Joker was quick to make sure she was okay. Skull swung his club around, Mona drew his saber off of his back and Ann cracked her whip, all of them ready as a lone figure stood stoic in the center.

The unknown female voice picked back up again, Joker knew that the distortion to said voice indicated that it was a shadow, it just wasn’t Kawakami. “Who is ready for another **SPECTACULAR** show?!” to that response, the shadows roared loud as each member of the group became even more tense. “And introducing the wonderful woman who will lead our circus in the routine you can catch in every waking hour of the day…”

“This is…!” Skull had his weapon at the ready more than anyone else, sensing who was about to come on down. “It’s her, isn’t it…?” Panther had her whip at the ready, but as she reached down for the submachine guns that were strapped to a belt around her waist, it was clear that nobody was taking any chances.

…

“... **SADAYO KAWAKAMI!** ”

“Joker!”

Mona and Joker both nodded towards each other as threads of string fell down from above, with them, came down a shadow of the teacher that all three students of Shujin Academy knew all too well, of course Mona also recognised Kawakami through the countless hours he sat in the gap between Joker’s desk in school. The appearance of Shadow Kawakami was that of a jester, her make-up done in such a way where her entire face was pale with small red cracks. A top hat was positioned on her head as the strings moved, making her lift the top hat off whilst another strong made Shadow Kawakami pose eloquently with her left arm held outwards.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Kawakami exclaimed, showing no signs of weakness as she pointed towards the group that stood across from her. “Can we all make our wonderful guests feel welcome?!”

The crowd roared once again, surprising cheers for the ones known as phantom thieves as Skull decided to take it upon himself to step forward and look across the arena at the teacher he had troubled so much over the past few weeks. He took some responsibility and spoke across to Ren that it was okay that he was the one to talk it out with the shadow. “Give us a rundown of this place, this circus… whatever the hell you call it. Tell us where your treasure is!”

Skull knew that one way or another, Kawakami’s shadow wouldn’t just give away the treasure’s location that easily. I suppose it didn’t hurt to try. The strings connected to Shadow Kawakami moved up and down once again to guide her body in different poses that made the group a slight bit uncomfortable.

Apart from Joker, he thought it was just an inconvenience.

“Ho ho ho! I’d watch your mouth if I were you, Sakamoto. Your debt is only growing greater and the money still isn’t in our pockets…”

_‘Our’ pockets?_

Joker kept a mental note of that. From talking to Mona a lot, he knew that shadows tended to give away secret and private information about a person in the real world. Deep down, they were facing the true version of that person and Kawakami was no different. Panther decided to intervene as she stood by Skull and looked down the shadow.

“What… what happened to you? The fact that you were one of the only teachers I could trust to help me and one of the only teachers to accept him...” she pointed towards Joker, who still had his hands in his trench coat pockets. “... as an actual student and not a criminal. You condemned such name calling! And now, you’re using students and other young people for their money?! You should be ashamed!”

The shadow didn’t laugh in response, instead they looked fairly blank in their facial expression as the arms moved up to cover Kawakami’s face for a moment as she peeked out from behind. “Ashamed? No, no… that isn’t it. Young people like yourselves do not realise your place in society. Like me, you should know your place and stay there. I listen to my superiors and you wish to rebel! You could never understand why I do what I do!” Kawakami removed her hands away, her voice still fairly loud as she muttered those last few words, her arms extending outwards as Mona was alerted to all of the side gates in the arena slowly starting to move in some sort of way.

“Everybody! I sense shadows!” Mona was the only one focused on the gates as all of the students were still trying to make sense of Kawakami’s words. Joker knew he was the only one truly taking in all of the information, Skull was irritated and Panther had also started to notice the smaller gates opening up.

“You need to understand that we ain’t just people who you can control easily!” Skull had pushed the limits as the strings attached to Kawakami started to pull her back, a laugh sounding all around the arena from the loudspeakers as the shadow was then hoisted back up in the air, disappearing from view without another word as the gates fully open and from all corners of the arena, shadows started to emerge. They had taken the form of clowns, something that disturbed Panther the most out of everyone.

“Skull! With me!”

Joker took charge as both him and Skull started running towards a group of shadows, the two nodding as Skull first grabbed a hold of his mask, the blue flame coming out from behind him. “Rock them! Captain Kidd!”

Skull’s Persona emerged out from behind him as he cracked his knuckles and once again kept running with Joker, the two dodging spells that the shadows shot out, including a Garu spell that Joker looked to take advantage of. “Skull, give me a boost!”

“On it!” Skull rolled through and extended his hands out on one knee, Joker taking the force of the wind spell and placing his right foot on Skull's hands to push himself off upwards, finding himself flying through the air as he draws his model handgun out. Here in the Metaverse, these bullets would be as real as if it were a regular gun. The leader shot down upon shadow after shadow, seeing that one after another, they went down stunned as he flipped forward and landed perfectly on his feet behind the bunch.

“Now!”

“Rampage!” Skull shouted out as his Persona did the work for him, forcing itself down onto the shadows as they all took a beating and soon vanished from existence entirely in the usual puff of black smoke. “Hell yeah! That’s how we-”

Just as Skull was celebrating, he turned around to see another shadow cast Agi towards him as the fire spell hit the blonde directly across the chest and it sent him backwards to a knee. He was soon up and a lot more pissed off than before. Joker saw this and heard Mona’s voice just across the arena as the latter was distracting two shadows with a Garu. “I’m coming in for the assist! Zorro, Magaru!” The stronger wind spell hit the two shadows and wiped them out as Mona leapt up high in the air, bringing his sword down onto the back of the shadow that attacked Ryuji.

“My chance…” Across the arena, Panther had taken another small group of shadows to herself as they were definitely stronger than those the group faced in the Castle of Lust. They mostly took the form of Koropokguru, as one of the shadows glowing bright red transformed into a Nue.

“Carmen!” Panther ripped off the mask attached to her face as Carmen appeared behind her; she then proceeded to throw her hand out and direct a spell towards the entire group. “Tarunda!” As she directed the spell towards the larger Nue, it took its effect as it charged forward and attempted to swipe away at Panther to no real effect as Panther instead was pushed back slightly, holding her arms out to block it the strike.

“You need some help?” The voice that came from nearby was Joker as he elegentally flipped forward and landed next to her. He was a massive show off and Panther knew that all too much from their previous adventures in Kamoshida’s Palace and Mementos. “Come! Succubus!”

Joker summoned one of the Personas he had obtained back in their first heist, it appearing behind him as he was quite enjoying being able to summon as many Personas as he wanted to. He took off to the side and distracted the Nue, running across the edge of the arena as Panther lined up the other minions. “Maragi!” As her strength had improved through ventures in Mementos, the shadows all disappeared one after the other as she turned to her right to see Joker running back in her direction.

“Agi!”

Both of them shouted the same spell as they sandwiched the Nue, making it fall down to its knees and ending up with it stunned. They shared a high-five as Skull and Mona came crashing down from behind, their Personas behind them as the strengthened strikes with their weapons spelt the end for the final shadow. Another spotlight shone down upon them as the gates were brought up, the crowd not cheering and instead, heavily jeering the Phantom Thieves in their success.

“Bring on more, you damn bastards! We’ll take you all out!” Skull was confident, returning his Persona and his mask re-appeared back on his face. Panther and Joker had the same thing happen to them, with Mona returning Zorro. All of them wanted to preserve their energy and it was clear that Skull’s request wouldn’t go unheard among the crowd of shadows.

“Skull! Up above!”

Joker started to run as Panther caught on to this, Skull and Mona weren’t looking as a GIANT hand started to descend from the ceiling similar to the string puppet shadow version of Kawakami. It slowly descended as Skull used those track team skills to catch up with the pair of Joker and Panther; Mona left to cover his own ground as the hand went to go and grab him.

“Change! Arsene, come to me!”

Turning around at the last second, Joker’s mask disappeared once again as he let out a much louder yell when calling forth his main Persona of choice. He clicked his fingers towards the hand as it was ever so close towards grabbing Mona…

“Sukunda!”

Arsene appeared and slowed down the movement of the hand, but Joker still wasn’t done there as he shouted one more time and clicked his fingers again. “Eiga!” The ball of curse energy was sent up and towards the hand as it connected, sending the hand backwards before it suddenly jerked forward and instead of grabbing Mona, it struck him across the back and sent the feline flying forward!

“ **MONA!** ” the trio all shouted in unison as the giant hand retreated, but not before extending its fingers outwards and apparently allowing the gates to be opened up once more. There were more shadows ready to pounce as Mona was having trouble getting to his feet, having to be picked up and placed on the shoulders of Joker.

“ **DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!** ”

The booming male voice was now in control as the Phantom Thieves knew they wouldn’t be able to fight and didn’t have time to heal Mona or each other. As the gates open and various more shadow performers burst out, the exit was in sight…

“They’re catching up on us! Red alert!” Skull shouted, having ran to the front of the pack as Joker wasn’t too far behind, the hurt Mona perched on his shoulders. Panther was struggling to keep up, however she thought of something that could help the team ultimately get out, using that last bit of energy she still had left. There was no time for any items that could recover said energy, she had to use all of it to make a distraction.

“One more time…! Carmen!” her Persona appeared behind her once more as she threw both hands forward towards an empty space near where the horde was running. Joker got the slit in the tent as Skull had already made it through, he stopped momentarily, seeing Panther in danger and passing Mona along to Skull after a quick shout and exchange.

“Maragi!”

Fire shot out and hit its target of the air next to the horde, creating a sort of smokescreen as Panther turned to run and was instead scooped up by Joker. She gasped for a moment as their leader held her in his arms, not taking a second to look back as Carmen quickly disappeared as they reappeared.

_H-he’s carrying m-me like this?!_

Joker joined Skull on the outside, Panther still in his arms, as Skull already had his phone ready, tapping the icon once more on the Meta-Nav application as the cognitive world started to slowly dissolve and transport them out.

They couldn’t be anymore on time.

* * *

**Cafe Leblanc**

**15/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

**(2) new messages in: NOT THE PHANTOM THIEVES**

**SKULLBOI: you know what**

**SKULLBOI: today went well**

**queen of crepes: i am EXHAUSTED tho**

**SKULLBOI: do you not remember what the metaverse does to your body n shit?**

**queen of crepes: -.-**

**F3arlessl3ader: the main objective for today was discovering the palace and we did it. that ambush was very unexpected.**

**SKULLBOI: we could’ve taken ‘em!**

**queen of crepes: morgana was hurt! we needed everyone fit and ready if we wanted to advance further**

**F3arlessl3eader: as soon as we got back to leblanc, mona went straight to sleep and didn’t even wait for me. kinda strange, but i’m taking this damn opportunity.**

**SKULLBOI: anyway, he’ll be good by tomorrow right? we can go in for the second run**

**F3earlessl3ader: we have our entrance and i believe that we should find out how kawakami’s palace works. there’s definitely more than just the arena.**

**queen of crepes: it’s nothing we can’t handle!**

**F3earlessl3ader: well said.**

**SKULLBOI: hey uh**

**SKULLBOI: y’know when we split off from the train station?**

**queen of crepes: mhm**

**SKULLBOI: i could be tripping or something but i swear i saw that student council president watching me**

**F3earlessl3eader: Niijima-senpai?**

**SKULLBOI; the one that ann shouted at the other day.**

**queen of crepes: hey! she deserved it!**

**SKULLBOI: bro, whenever i moved about, i could always see her out of the corner of my eye hiding behind one of those magazines you get down there in the station**

**SKULLBOI: why me tho? have you guys been stalked by miss prez recently?**

**F3earlessl3eader: nah.**

**queen of crepes: if i was then you would’ve heard about it as well as me smacking her**

**F3arlessl3eader: i don’t mean to act like a mimic of morgana here, but have you been openly discussing the phantom thieves lately ryuji?**

**SKULLBOI: NO**

**SKULLBOI: i’m telling ya, i kept my promise**

**queen of crepes: you do realise what this group name is, right?**

**…**

**SKULLBOI changed the group’s name to ‘phantom thieves fanclub’**

**F3earlessl3eader: at least you tried.**

* * *

 

**(1) new message from: Ann Takamaki**

**Ann: i forgot to thank you for today, for helping me out of the palace.**

**Ren: you were in danger, i did what i had to do.**

**Ann: take the compliment!!!**

**Ren: i did!**

**Ann: so mona is okay, right?**

**Ren: well, he currently has me trapped in place on my bed, probably muttering “lady ann” in his sleep.**

**Ann: grrrrr**

**Ren: no but seriously, i cannot move.**

**…**

_Come on, you can do it…_

**Ann: hey, ren?**

**Ren: yeah?**

**…**

**…**

_No, it doesn’t feel right._

**Ann: let’s take down the palace tomorrow, all of it.**

**Ren: all of it? you’re a confident one.**

**Ann: ik we can do it.**

**Ann: especially with you as our leader.**

**Ren: mhm. i’ll always do the best for the team.**

**…**

_The team…_

**Ann: that’s our leader.**

**Ann: you should get some sleep, it’s quite late.**

**Ren: okay, morgana.**

**Ann: i hate you.**

**Ren: sweet dreams, lady ann.**

**Ann: goodnightttt.**

She put her phone down on her bedside table, laying down; looking up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head.

“For the team…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all the comments! I haven't been replying to any as of lately, but I promise I do read and I will make responses without spoiling any of the future plot. Feel free to speculate of course. The plot will defer heavily from the main game's timeline, however a lot of elements will be similar. Another thing to clear up, the new characters that appear in Persona 5 Royal will not appear in Liberation...
> 
> ... but they might make an appearance down the line. Certain scenes may be adapted from the game also.


	6. District

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having previously discovered Sadayo Kawakami's palace, Ren and the rest of the Phantom Thieves are still on a quest to find her true motives and find the treasure that will help them take her heart and change her way of thinking... although Kawakami herself knows it all. Meanwhile, the group of MI5 detectives have found an extremely interesting piece of knowledge in relation to the students they're tracing in relation to Suguru Kamoshida.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**16/05/16**

* * *

 

The time was 3:00 AM and through the row of apartment windows in the complex, only one of them had a light on and it stuck out in the darkness of the night. With a few clicks and the fast typing of the keyboard, William Reed was hard at work despite the fact that his teammates, as well as most other citizens of Tokyo, were fast asleep. He knew that he was an insomniac and lived for the thrill of things. Once his mind was set to a task, he would get it done, no matter the time it took.

“... nah, nah… piss off.” a small chuckle came from William as he was clearly talking to somebody at this time at night. An earpiece rested in his right ear as a blue light illuminated from within, showing that somebody was on the line.

“I’d never lie to you about a case, Will.” the soft female voice on the other end said back to him as William slumped down on his desk, looking up at the screen as a download was taking place on the highly advanced and modified system. In reality, MI5 was extremely nice to the young adults back when they first joined the organisation. He had carried his system everywhere and Japan was no different. A few modifications to enhance the performance wouldn’t hurt anybody.

“You sound like Robbie after he’s the one to find the breakthrough to a case when myself and Alex have done all the previous work…” William began, seeing the process was almost complete and now leaning back in the office chair. “... but I’ll take your word on this one. Does that suit your needs?”

“Do you need this information or no?” the other end was quick to respond back as William shook his head for a moment, a grin on his face. “I do, I do, don’t get all antsy.” he spoke back as the bar filled up all the way, Will choosing to open the folder as it displayed file after file, all identifying by a name and a multi-digit number.

“You’re lucky I know how Adam’s computer works in order to obtain everything so easily, and anyway, are you positively sure this information is needed? The school only came to you a few days ago, right?” they said as William started scrolling down with his mouse, ignoring some of the names and clicking on certain files, bringing up a profile of said name that was attached to the file.

“If headquarters don’t want to respond and give us new cases, then we make our own.”

The profiles he was bringing up on the screen?

The profiles of **every single student who was currently attending Shujin Academy**.

For William, he expected the database to be a little harder to hack, however their companion in the MI5 team who mainly specialised in computing and hacking was no joke, they had previous knowledge before joining MI5 and the organisation had only improved their skills dramatically. Hacking the student database of a simple highschool in Japan was easy for them, it just took a lot of waiting around.

The female voice could be heard giggling slightly, admiring the confidence of her teammate in the force. “I forgot that our position is technically higher than the police force in Japan…” She continued and sighed slightly. “... so much for taking risks and having the potential to get caught.”

“Come on, now. There’s still risks involved in this. Japan and the U.K. don’t need to be conflicting because the youngest members of a secret service organisation hacked into a school’s database.”

He then realised how stupid that was.

It still carried some risks.

“Let’s change the topic. Was it a certain student that caught your attention? Or just the school in general?” the other end of the line said to Reed as he continued examining the profiles of various random students. A certain Makoto Niijima came up and he recognised the last name of the same businesswoman who he met in Leblanc. William didn’t pay it any attention and moved on, it was just a coincidence.

“The first option. Well, when I say students it was originally one and now there’s three who have caught my attention. I sent Robbie and Alex to trail the main student I was after, but wherever this guy goes, the group isn’t too far behind. There’s evidence that I have discovered that point them all towards Suguru Kamoshida and what happened to him…”

William folded his hands together as a profile caught his eye, it was a girl. The same girl that had hung out with the other students of interest.

Ann Takamaki.

From her appearance alone, she was definitely part of the group that his main target was in. If he was to believe anything, the two were the closest among the trio, he had even gotten intel from Alex that the two had been spotted hanging out in the same coffee show he had made his usual visiting spot, Leblanc. It made him think he could catch them one day. He clicked off of the profile and continued going down the list, trying to find a match.

“You went quiet for a moment there. Are you deep in thought or did you find something?” the female voice was typing herself, loud enough for William to hear over the earpiece as he clicked on another profile that was randomly listed. Somehow, the database had not come in alphabetical order and it was a matter of clicking and hoping for the best.

“I found one of the targets, not my main one, but somebody who is associated with this suspicious group. A girl; could swear I saw her face on one of those fashion magazines when in the station.” Reed bit down on his lip, deep in thought as he tried to just find this one boy, this one lead that would help him get a better identification of who could be responsible for what happened to Suguru Kamoshida.

Nothing came up, just nothing.

“Argh… I still can’t wrap my head around all of this!” William was frustrated, shaking his head, it was extremely early in the morning and all the coffee in the world couldn’t keep him awake. “They talked about going ‘somewhere’ and doing ‘something’ to him. The crimes he committed were horrendous and having covered them up for so long as per what was recorded at the confession… could somebody as despicable as him just have a sudden change of heart?”

“It sure sounds like blackmail-”

“I got it!”

“Got what?” the other end of the line was curious as William’s screen showed one profile in particular, it was Ren Amamiya. He fitted the same description of the boy that he had ran into before and was trailing. Along with the typical picture of the student and some information that he really shouldn’t be looking at, there was one detail on Ren’s profile that William hadn’t seen on others. It stuck out like a sore thumb and made the teenager much more unique than William first thought.

“We have our lead.”

“What makes you say that?”

…

“Ren Amamiya has a criminal record. A charge of assault. He’s serving his probation at Shujin Academy.”

* * *

**16/05/16**

**Shujin Academy**

**Evening**

* * *

 

Everything was normal to her so far. There had been no new demands, no new orders and no reason to act once again. Sadayo Kawakami knew that she was guilty, having forced two more young boys to pay up money as those who controlled over her started to loathe in her pain. As a teacher, maid and… other jobs she didn’t wish to speak out loud, the soft and gentle Kawakami that students at Shujin Academy always looked forward to hearing from. She wasn’t the greatest teacher, but knew that a majority of the students respected her.

Sadayo slammed her hand against the desk of Classroom 2-D after another long day at work, knowing that not even in a few hours she would have to don her mask for the evening, her mask of guilt and greed. She didn’t have a career outside of teaching and if she dared to step out of line from this grand scheme…

… she was finished. Principal Kobayakawa could have been holding her at gunpoint and it would have been the same amount of pressure she had been feeling ever since the accident. Did she blame herself for it?

_Yes._

_… it was her fault. It was her fault that the student died._

She could speak out loud or speak in secrecy, but anything the teachers speak, Kobayakawa would know within moments. He had connections to some of the most powerful business owners in Japan and Shujin Academy was a ploy to help a select group of the upper echelon take over the country and breed new working life for the future. Every student who came in would be put to the test in every waking moment, even Kawakami was involved in that process at detecting who would listen in class, who would text on their phone, who would go out of their way to get their work done.

It was all too much for her. She couldn’t handle it much longer.

As she slammed her hand against the desk one more time, it caused a drawer behind the desk to prematurely open up to reveal the contents inside. Sadayo reached her hand down through her saddened state and pulled it open, quickly shutting it once seeing the stacks of cash that were inside. Even that still wasn’t enough. It felt like nothing was good enough. In the back of her mind, she could hear all these people laughing at her, every single one of them who took Kawakami for granted and treated her like a puppet on strings.

“This was meant for me…”

She wanted to fight back.

**…**

**No.**

**…**

_This was her role in society._

* * *

**16/05/16**

**Yongen-Jaya**

**After-School**

* * *

 

“You have what you need, yes?” the cat said to Ren as he emerged from Tae Takemi’s clinic, heading down the steps as a yawn emerges from his mouth. He had just finished taking part in another one of Takemi’s experiments as her ‘little guinea pig’ and if he was being honest, the name had started to stick with him at this point. He didn’t feel anything towards Takemi, but taking part in such things to get him and his team the correct (if a tad illegal) equipment to help them as much as possible in the Metaverse gave him an unknown thrill like no other.

Ren knew he was a strange boy.

“Yeah… although next time I just wish she didn’t make the medicine so bitter. The good thing is that this one didn’t make me pass out!” Ren was thankful that nobody was passing by, the issue of being alone with Morgana and communicating outside of grunts and either shaking or nodding his head was still present. That wouldn’t last for long though as he walked the short distance from the clinic to Leblanc, finding a certain blonde already waiting outside and on her phone.

“Ann? Huh.” He spoke that to himself and walked forward, knowing that the group were supposed to meet up in station square, but hey, who is he to complain about the company of Ann Takamaki? Despite Ryuji being his ‘best bro’, Ren found himself hanging out with his female companion a lot more often, in and outside of school even if it was to study, eat lunch or talk about what frustrated the pair.

“Lady Ann! It’s so good to see you!” Morgana exclaimed as he poked his head out of Ren’s bag and catching Ann’s attention as she quickly pockets her phone, looking up at smiling as the raven haired student approached with his hands buried deep in his trouser pockets as usual. “I thought we were meeting up at the station square with Ryuji…” Ren started to say before he was interrupted in an instant.

“I just thought this would be quicker! Ha ha… and like, I also wanted to know if you were still good for my photoshoot tomorrow!” she seemed slightly flustered, smiling and innocently holding her hands behind her back as Ren had to chuckle himself. “It’s fine. I actually appreciate it.”

He pushed the glasses up that were falling down onto his nose, scratching the top of his head as he tried to remember his schedule. “And I wouldn’t miss the shoot now, would I?”

“Yes!” Ann was happy, clearly from the expression. She walked away from the wall of Leblanc and pulled out her phone again to check the time. To get the maximum amount of time in the palace, they would need to all meet up as early as possible and there was a good chance Ryuji would already be waiting for them. “Stick to your promise as well, mister. We better get to that treasure today.”

“Mhm. And what if we don’t?” Ren said back as the two now started walking along the streets of Yongen-Jaya, turning a right to head towards central Shibuya and the station square. He spoke with a smirk on his face, so Ann could tell that he was joking around with her. “Well… w-well, I never thought of a consequence… um!”

Her cheeks went bright red as she tried not to ‘die from embarrassment’ as what was going through her head, sparking another reaction from Ren as he chuckled. “Oh, Ann. Never change.”

She couldn’t even find a response back to that and held her head in shame, taking the chance to then look up at Ren’s face as he continued walking along towards their destination. They cut through an alleyway and around a few corners in order to reach just outside of station square within a minute or so.

“An idea, leader.” Morgana once again made his appearance, speaking up from within Ren’s bag as both students turned to look at him. “I believe that if you really do want to get to the treasure today, we should take the time to improve our gear.”

“We can make that happen.” Ren scratched the back of his head, remembering how the last visit went and not wanting a repeat of that and being forced to leave the palace. “It’s ambitious, but nothing is impossible for us. And I know that Ann can back me up on this when I say that homeroom every day is getting more and more awkward.”

“Your teacher... “

“I can’t even look at her the same way knowing what she’s imposed upon Ryuji, Mishima and all these other students… so I have to turn around to talk to you and…”

“She catches you without fail.”

“Yep. Then I have to look around and listen to her voice and it’s just… urgh! In no way does it disturbs me more than Kamoshida, but it annoys me. It really annoys me that this all doesn’t add up and yet...” She couldn’t exactly get out those last few words and instead kept down, even Morgana and their leader didn’t know what to say. Ann and Ren continued walking along into station square where soon enough, a familiar face was just in front of them, phone out in his hand and browsing the Phan-Site as usual. Ryuji Sakamoto.

“Hey! How’s life treating ya?” Ryuji was fired up as always on the brink of heading into the Metaverse, still in his school uniform apart from the blazer slung over his right shoulder, revealing the designer t-shirt underneath. “I got the app ready.”

“Let’s hold off on that for a second.” Ren spoke up and placed a hand to his chin, examining their surroundings and trying to find a way through the mass crowd of people in order to get to central street and to Untouchable, the shop in which Ren and Ryuji both discovered they could purchase model weapons that would become very real inside the Metaverse. “Morgana brought up the idea of stocking up on some new weapons. We’re aiming to get to the treasure by the end of the day.”

“Oh, hell yeah! I like your guys’ way of thinking!” the blonde nearly jumped up in the air as he decided to try and lead the way, nearly bumping into somebody and jolting backwards once again.

“Watch where you going…” Morgana groaned, but that was usual with most things that Ryuji did. The two were easily the most problematic when it came to arguments among the group, yet they shared a similar hot headed personality, so underneath all that fur, the feline was just as excited to get into the palace as Ryuji most likely was.

They just had to wait until they could move out from the square.

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for the group to get what they needed from Munehisa Iwai’s store. Iwai wasn’t the most talkative and really only spoke to Ren, that being because Morgana was a cat, Ryuji wasn’t too sure of what to say in order to get the best deals and Ann felt like she was in the wrong store completely. You could only imagine what Iwai and other potential customers felt when they saw three teenagers picking up model guns and comparing ‘which one works the best’. With money from part-time jobs and cash thrown in by the group in total, they were able to afford all new model guns. They made their way back to the station square and Ryuji opened up the app, tapping on the icon and giving them access back into Kawakami’s Palace.

Sure, it was a pleasant surprise to find themselves back by the gazebo and where Joker had cut into the material in order to give them access, however the ferocious roar of the shadows inside indicated to Mona that they should try another point of access in order to not only discover new places where the treasure might be, but to also hone their craft and make sure their time in the arena wouldn’t be cut short. After some walking around and slight competition from Skull and Mona to find another entrance; Panther would be the one to discover that a slab in the platform was slightly loose. With a foot stomp, the slab flipped up and over onto the main section of the platform. She reached down and discovered a long rope that led down into complete darkness.

The group all asked each other how safe this was really was, that would be until Joker had an idea and took his mask off to summon another Persona, this being Jack O’Lantern. The light of the Persona suited well for this environment and Joker took the plunge first, being lowered down by Skull and Panther as it didn’t take long before he hit the cold floor and used the light to find some sort of power switch. With a quick flick, the lights turned on to reveal the underbelly of the gazebo. It was an extremely large open space resembling a carnival and with his third eye, Joker could tell that some of the shadows acted as guards similar to those in the Castle of Lust, whilst others were ‘enjoying’ the carnival.

“Any progress down there, Joker?”

That voice was Mona as they saw the lights come on, Joker backing up and nodding at them from below to make their way down as he had already called back Jack O’Lantern. One by one, the Phantom Thieves used the rope to drop down to Joker’s position and overlook most of the carnival from their elevated height. It was huge, there was no doubt about that, and from another suggestion by Morgana, searching all of it would take more than a day. They needed to find some sort of map to help them locate where the treasure would be. An idea from Panther came up, being that if the group didn’t have to sneak around if they also acted like guests of the carnival.

So, that’s what they did.

Looking out of place in their get-up, the Phantom Thieves walked around as the cheerful and distorted music sent chills down Panther’s spine in particular. The guests, or the shadows, looked happy to be there as some of them looked like teenagers and young adults, the kind you would see in and around Shujin Academy in particular. Joker boiled this down to no coincidence as this was Kawakami’s heart and vision and believed this represented how she saw life outside of school, full of fun, enjoyment and freedom.

“Roll up! Roll up!”

The booming voice came from a smaller gazebo nearby, Skull being the one to notice it and Mona soon deduced that as a point of interest. They headed in to see an empty gazebo bar an employee behind the counter, standing next to a large spinning wheel with a familiar face also spinning around with it, resembling the bullseye you’d see on a dartboard. The face well, Panther was quick to point that one out.

“That’s… Principal Kobayakawa!”

“Ah, you fine young people look like you’re interested in this game! The only prize up for offer is if you successfully land your throw on the constantly rotating bullseye! The twist? You must be blindfolded!”

That was news to the thieves, however Mona wasn’t going to let them give up and put Joker up to the task as he stepped forward and requested a game. Surprisingly, it didn’t cost any money to participate as the employee slid a knife across the counter towards the leader of the group. Yeah, you wouldn’t normally use a knife in a carnival, but this distorted mess was a good enough explanation. The whole Kobayakawa target intrigued Joker as well, simply because this was Kawakami’s true feelings. Did she really have it out for the person they all thought similar to Kamoshida, she was working with to extort student’s cash? Either Kawakami was doing it all for herself or there was another agenda buried deep down within.

The group all cheered Joker on as he put the blindfold on. There was a catch that the employee didn’t realise, that being Joker’s third eye as he could see clearly through the material blocking his vision. He caught the employee attempting to place his hand on the board to move the target away from the throw of the knife. It didn’t really bother Joker, as with a quick flick and readjustment, the knife jammed straight into the hand of the shadow!

“Bullseye.” he took his blindfold off and threw it down, drawing the handgun from around his waist and pointing it towards the impaled shadow, to which the other Phantom Thieves soon followed suit with Skull’s shotgun, Ann’s submachine gun and Morgana’s slingshot. The shadow soon broke free and its hand leaked of the familiar black and red ooze, transforming itself into Ippon-Datara. Despite the small size of the gazebo, Joker was able to avoid a hammer strike that broke the desk in front of them with a smooth backflip that he could only execute in this world.

The fight itself didn’t take too long to wrap up as Joker made a distraction with some more gunfire, leading to a clubbing shot the back of the shadow’s head by Skull that stunned the shadow, leading to a Morgana sword slash downwards right on the back of the shadow’s neck. It exploded into a puff of black smoke and faded away, leaving the gazebo empty and void of anything apart from the group themselves. Skull hopped over the counter and looked down at where the shadow was; a fairly large scrap of paper now in its place.

“Looks like a map, dude. How much are we betting on there being more of these scraps to put together?”

Skull was correct as when the Phantom Thieves left the smaller gazebo, they look at the scrap that was collected previously to see outlines of the gazebo itself through a white line making some sort of wide circle. There was nothing to go off of, however Joker knew what needed to be done as he placed two fingers to his forehead and looked around for any highlighted areas.

Don’t question how this ability could identify where they needed to go, Igor wasn’t the type to explain things in full detail.

* * *

 

She held a hand to her heart for a moment, perhaps it was just stress. It most definitely was stress as Sadayo heard her name being called out by the man who had kept his eye on her throughout the past month. Principal Kobayakawa was on the phone as the teacher made her way inside, waiting patiently at the door as Kobyakawa wrapped up his conversation with whoever was on the other line. Kawakami couldn’t help but take notice to a few of the key words that stood out from said conversation, looking away and down at the ground so he wouldn’t suspect that she was listening in.

_“... the transaction can be made soon…”_

_“... the election in a few months…”_

_“... in another country…”_

_“... the future is certain…”_

It was those last few words before the principal said his farewell and promised to call back when ‘more information’ had been gathered. He put the phone down on his desk and folded his hands, looking up at Kawakami.

“Sadayo, take a seat. It’s about your future.”

* * *

 

“One more time! Arsene!”

Joker shouted out the command and the Persona that stood by him since the first day emerged out behind him in that all too familiar blue flame. They were at the final point of interest with only a small section of the map to fill out after taking down three previous gazebos filled with carnival games, with a twist to them.

Skull found himself throwing basketballs into moving hoops, the only issue was that the balls he had to throw were equipped with spikes all around, giving the blonde flashbacks to when his hand was pricked by spikes the previous day. He was able to barely complete the required target of 15 within a single minute, but the shadow wasn’t having any of that as they pushed the group backwards and transformed into Oni. Fortunately for the group and unfortunately for the shadow, the Oni was disposed of fairly quickly and another scrap of the full map was obtained.

Mona was up to the plate for the next game as it was a simple memory game, where the shadow employee would place a ball under a certain cup and move it around to try and mess with the feline’s mind. Mona successfully guessed the ball’s position three times in a row, with each round getting more and more faster as well as emitting a smoke of sorts that aimed to blind Mona’s vision. After the third attempt, Joker had already sneaked up behind the employee and ripped its mask off, revealing the shadow underneath as Shiki-Ouji. Whilst this block in the road proved a bit more of a challenge than the Oni they faced before. Good teamwork on the parts of Skull and Joker made the fight a lot easier as an all-out attack wiped the shadow out for good and left another fairly large scrap of the map.

Panther had to go through a hall of mirrors for the next game; being cheered on by the boys didn’t help the fact that she wasn’t very appreciative of the distorted and twisted reflections of herself. In fact, she destroyed all of the mirrors with multiple cracks of her whip and the shadow was infuriated, transforming on the outside into multiple Inugamis. Skull, Joker and Mona took out three each with their weapons before Panther ended up getting the final kill by summoning Carmen and connecting with Agi. They moved on from there as the carnival itself started to fall apart around them. Mona made the point that with every defeat, the Phantom Thieves were taking control of the palace and the carnival’s treasure was slowly starting to reveal itself.

“How’s the map getting along, leader?” Mona was the most curious and treasure hungry out of all of them, they had managed to defeat three major shadows already and the map was looking quite complete with a whole overview of the carnival and the description of each ride and game. They had the map basically complete, however it still felt like something was missing as there was one section that hadn’t been added yet…

“The circus. We’re missing the circus arena.” Joker’s reply was fairly stoic as he folded up the already damaged map and placed it in the pocket of his trench coat. “Remember the place we went to yesterday? That has to be where the treasure is.”

Remember when Joker summoned Arsene? That’s where we’re at now.

They had been fighting by the massive ferris wheel in the center of the carnival and there were no guests taking a ride in the wheel itself, instead forming a large circle of sorts to watch the fight going on between the Phantom Thieves and the ‘gatekeeper’ of the final piece of the puzzle, Take-Minakata. Skull and Mona had to step back to recover, but not before Mona casted Dia with Zorro in order to give Joker one last boost to secure the victory. Arsene appeared behind the leader as he started to use the pods of the ferris wheel to gain height on the shadow, waiting for a distraction as he had just the person in mind and they didn’t fail to deliver.

“Carmen! Agilao!”

The improved fire spell shot out towards the enemy as it feels to its knees, angrier than ever as it got up and started changing towards Panther, weapon in hand before Joker came flying down from an elevated pod as part of the ferris wheel. He landed on the back of the shadow and jammed his knife into the back of their neck, twisting it around before removing it and shouting forward with Arsene in union.

“Cleave!”

A final slash came across the shadow’s neck and it collapsed forward, disappearing completely from view as it left behind the final piece that the group needed. It was colourful similar to the other map pieces, however had a tint of gold with a clear ‘DO NOT LOSE’ circled in a red marker around it.

“Bingo.” Joker spoke and went around his teammates, high-fiving each one of them as they had their destination, it was just a matter of reaching it and thinking of how. Skull stepped forward out of everyone and wrapped an arm around the leader, slapping him on the shoulder with a grin on his face.

“You gotta teach me how you move like that!” he said as he noticed that the crowd of shadows, or guests, were slowly dispersing and had gone quiet. As an added bonus, they were all staring down the Phantom Thieves and the twisted looks gave Mona in particular the idea that they should get out of there as quick as possible, not wanting a situation like last time.

“Everyone, we should move. The shadows appear to becoming restless-”

Before Mona could complete the sentence, the sound of machinery breaking apart could be heard as an explosion went off right next to the group. It was the ferris wheel and it was slowly falling apart. “Shit! Shit! Mayday! Mayday!” Skull was going a bit crazy as he saw the ferris wheel falling forward, running off by himself and forgetting that his allies were with him. “It’s gonna crash on us!”

“Not on my watch! Zorro!”

Mona and the group had ran out slightly, but it wouldn’t be enough as the cat threw himself in front of danger and summoned his Persona. Joker and Panther still stood nearby as they were both at the ready to help out, however Mona was the most confident he had been and threw both arms upwards towards the falling mechanism.

“Garuda!” the green energy spurted out and hit the ferris wheel with so much force, its travel path was reversed the other way and the wind was still hitting it, slightly lifting the wheel up in the air before it came crashing down with a huge thud on top of other small gazebos, creating one more explosion for good measure that turned the carnival into mayhem. Joker scooped Mona up and made sure he was okay, gesturing for his team to get up and out of there.

It wouldn’t be long before they found the rope to lead them back up to the main platform.

* * *

 

“Wow… talk about all the fun at the fair, phew!” Panther was pulled up last of all and fell to a knee, looking across and up at the large gazebo that was still performing a show from the reactions that sounded out all through the palace. The crowd’s roars could still be heard from outside. It made her think about how this palace came to be, a constant circus always performing with Kawakami as the main attraction. Did she really believe in all of this?

“You alright?” Joker came down to Panther’s level as Skull and Mona went off into their own conversation, talking about Mona’s great save and how he had grown stronger since the first time they discovered the palace. “That was tough, but you did great, honestly.”

He smiled at her, extending his hand out to which Panther gracefully accepted and it took them both up to their feet. She noticed that his hand was still around hers, making her blush in the process as she looked up at his face again. “You’re such a gentleman. And… no, I just helped you out a little bit, you were the true star of this show.”

“Come on now, we know that this is a group effort. We all put our all into this, didn’t we?” Joker let go and let his hands fall back to his pockets, a grin still painted on his face as Panther looked away for a moment and stared off into the distance, the red tinted sky and the still blurry city of Tokyo underneath.

“You’re right,” she turned back to him. “I should stop going too hard on myself, haha… but what you do is still pretty incredible. Don’t let that escape your mind, ‘kay?”

“Leader! Did you see my strengthened Persona? I really saved us then, huh?!” Mona was as fired up as ever, shouting towards Joker as him and Skull approached, the club down at Skull’s side as he held onto his mask. “Don’t think you were the only one, Captain Kidd is only getting stronger with me.”

With one last look at Panther before he turned to the group as a whole, he nodded his head and winked. If anything was a sign to Panther, then it was that. She knew that there were more important tasks at hand, so maybe until after they had taken down Kawakami would she look to explore further possibilities.

“That only leaves the calling card, righ-”

“No! You idiot!” Mona leapt up and slapped Skull on the back on the head, causing a slight yell from the blonde as he tried to kick Mona away to no avail, instead slouching as he instead looked to Joker for a suggestion. “We need to-”

“Remember Skull, we need to have an exact location of the treasure in order to make it materialise after we send the calling card. Having the ‘presumed’ location won’t do us any favours once sending it, and we only get one chance anyway.” Joker’s explanation already seemed better at Mona’s eventual one towards Skull as the latter nodded, trying to come out as good as possible in this situation.

“Y-yeah, I knew that.”

“The only question I feel I should ask is that if it’s in the main section of the circus, how the hell are we going to get a good view of it without anybody, mainly Kawakami, catching us?” Panther said next, placing her arms behind her back as she tried to look for any other sort of entrance. Instead, all she got was a reply from Joker.

“I thought it would come to this,” he took a step towards the cut in the gazebo that the group had previously made before. “Going through this way is a no-go, the lights are on now, however, we run the risk of being easily seen.”

“We should enter through the back!”

“Read my mind, Panther.” he didn’t turn around when saying this, simply stepping off to the right and breaking into a run. The rest of the group didn’t know what to do as Skull decided to follow suit, leaving Panther and Mona as Joker called back out to them still full of energy. “Get running! We don’t have all day!”

That side of him was coming out again, she thought, Joker can have those moments where he’s simply a fun loving student and nothing more.

* * *

 

The dagger proved trustworthy once again as it cut through the material of the gazebo, allowing Joker access as he peered inside and noticed that the voices here weren’t as loud as they were at the entrance. He could hear the distorted music playing in the distance and the cheers of the crowd along with the booming pair of voices. The raven haired student gestured for the rest of the group to follow his lead as they snuck inside, having to feel around in the darkness until it was Panther who caught hand of something, a material.

“Over here!” she had to keep her voice down, however the group hadn’t travelled very apart from each other. Joker reached out and grabbed the same piece of material she had caught wind of, that being a curtain of sorts as he walked forward and threw the curtain back over his head. He reached upwards and saw light, able to now fully see his arms and pull himself up onto some sort of stage.

And there it was.

The light of the treasure had lit up the rest of the backstage area as Joker first went down onto his knees, poking his head out to below where he once was and extending an arm out. “We should be fine. The voices are louder, but they’ll cover up what we’re saying if we keep a conversational tone.” The first person to grab on and be pulled up was Panther herself, Skull was then able to get on up by himself whilst Mona also had to be helped up. Eventually, they all saw the light in the distance and jogged up to it. The treasure had yet to materialise as whatever was going on outside of the curtain was about to pick up, reaching a level where Mona had to elevate his own voice in order to be understood.

“This is where it is? In front of us the whole time from when we came in…” Mona stated, looking down at the ground. “Don’t think like that Mona, we would have had to get through the performing arena of the circus in order to reach here. Don’t forget those giant hands and Kawakami’s shadow.” Joker looked towards the curtains, perhaps it was beneficial to take a peek to the outside, but at the same time, all would be revealed in their next visit.

“Which means…” Panther started this one, looking at the light of the treasure, in which Skull picked up on the end of her sentence. “... we’ll have to fight through all those enemies in order to get her and retrieve the treasure, unless we go through this same way again.”

“Don’t underestimate these shadows, they expected us to come through the entrance and if they discover that the treasure has appeared in full, they might as well expect us to come through the back entrance that we just made.” Mona was trying to be the voice of reason as he hopped over towards where the group made their way in, ready to hop down. He turned to Joker, who had been pacing around the area slightly. “What do you think, leader?”

“I have a plan.”

“We’re strong, we’ve gotten stronger through fighting underneath this main area. I feel that we can get even more stronger though. Think about it, we barely got through a single horde of shadows in our first time through. I believe that we should spend at least two days in Mementos, solving smaller requests on the Phan-Site and getting more of a grip with ourselves and our Personas. Then, we should send the calling card on the 20th, the day we get our exam results.” Joker was concise and straight to the point, no wonder they had voted him as the leader. He held out a hand towards the treasure, trying to get a feel for it in a way as he still looked towards the rest of the group.

“This isn’t to say that we’re weak. That would be idiotic to think after all that we’ve gone through so far. So tomorrow, I suggest that we forget about the Metaverse and forget about all of this. We need to relax and clear our heads. Then the 18th and 19th, we train, yet we still give back to society through the Phan-Site. Skull, if she keeps asking about the money, remember that we have until the end of the month. It doesn’t matter though, we’ll knock this shit out beforehand.”

To say that the group didn’t admire Joker was an understatement, but of course, he had his own doubts about himself. The main thing that mattered to him is that his team was confident and his team felt ready. They all nodded as Joker took charge, jumping down back to the end of the curtain and gesturing for the team to head forward again towards the light that the cut in the gazebo made. They were soon outside as Skull had his phone ready, the Meta-Nav application open.

“Are we all in agreement then?”

“As always, man. With you all the way.”

“Whatever you do, we’re with you, Joker!”

“It’s decided then, leader. The Phantom Thieves will be ready to steal another heart sooner rather than later!”

“Thank you, guys. Let’s head back.”

* * *

 

Ren blinked a few times to finally realise that they were back in Shibuya station square, back in school uniform as Morgana quickly hopped until the schoolbag that had now appeared around his shoulder again. Ann and Ryuji weren’t too far behind and were there as well, having just appeared out of thin air seemingly out of sight of the public as the group looked around. A significant amount of time had passed, however Ren knew that by the time he got back, Sojiro would see it as an acceptable time. Regardless, having given him access to go out in the evening was even better for his situation. All that mattered was that they had discovered the treasure’s location and were ready to execute the final stage of the plan to steal Kawakami’s heart.

“I’m out of it, dude. For real.” Ryuji had let his blazer drop to the ground as he appeared back in reality, picking it back up and slinging it over his shoulder once again. “I ought to head back, never know if Ma’ is working tonight.”

“Us too, Ren. You’ve got-”

“Wait…”

Ann had noticed something and soon, Ren did as well, then Ryuji picked up on it. Footsteps heading right in their direction. They came to a stop as three fairly young adults now found themselves facing the group, Morgana deciding to duck into Ren’s schoolbag as the latter took the chance to look at the trio. Starting from the left, there was a man around the same height of Ren himself, albeit a slight bit taller as he had his hands behind his head. A tuft of curly ginger hair went with a light blue buttoned up shirt and light brown trousers. He went to his right to see a much taller man, still looking fairly young with long blonde hair that didn’t go down far. He had glasses on and a plain black jumper, a polo shirt of sorts underneath. They were all either 19 to 21; definitely could be mistaken for university students.

Then, in the middle…

...

… it was **him!**

William Reed stood opposite Ren Amamiya as his brown hair was fairly messy compared to most days. His white shirt had a button loose at the top and the tie was also barely done up correctly, hanging slightly loose as William extended a hand out to the young lad. “The kid who works in Leblanc, eh?”

Ren could tell that his Japanese was slightly shaky, the accent gave it all away and he knew that whoever this was, he had learned it at some point. Nevertheless, he didn’t exactly smile back and kept a straight face. “Tell me what you want first, you and your friends.” Ren was fairly quick to the point, not even choosing to shake Reed’s hand as the Brit retracted said hand and placed it in his pocket. “Psh. You’re a fun one, ain’t you?”

William didn’t lose eye contact as he pulled out a badge from his pocket, not his official ranking badge, but an extremely well done forgery that had been made for something exactly like this. “William Reed, ace detective. These are my colleagues, Robbie Allister and Alexander Smith. We’re currently conducting an investigation into Shujin Academy and couldn’t help but notice that you’re students.”

“Does that explain why you’ve been following us around all week?”

Ren’s response took William back slightly as he stepped forward once more, letting out a chuckle and looking away. “I don’t forget a face. First at Shujin, then at Leblanc, and finally I remember seeing your friends the other day when we were making rounds of the area. Be honest with me, it isn’t just because we’re students at the school is it?”

“Zip it, smart arse.” Robbie now spoke up as he stood in the back, shrugging his shoulders. “Should you really be speaking as the only person who attends Shujin Academy with a criminal record?”

**…!**

Ren went silent, now he was the one to look away and down at the ground. He was shocked, either the rumours got out of Shujin Academy or they had other means in obtaining such information. He didn’t know what to say as the other young detectives were expecting an answer from him, that’s when Ann stepped in and spoke back to the trio that they stood against.

“I believe that you should leave, right now. None of us, especially Ren, owes you any information! Go on home, you’re pitiful.” Ann was already tired of the three as she stood in front of the boy, facing William straight on as Reed chuckled again. “We’ll leave, we don’t want to make any bad impressions.” He knew that he wanted to ask the group about Suguru Kamoshida in particular and Robbie bringing up the whole criminal record made William internally face plant, they would have to do a better job the next time and didn’t want to be seen as hostile to this group of students.

William didn’t want to leave without some sort of impression though and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, placing it in his mouth and pulling out a lighter to light the end. He took a puff and breathed the smoke out right in front of Ann, causing her to step back and wave it away, coughing slightly as Reed put the end of the cigarette out on a wall next to the lot and would find a trash can to put it inside afterwards. “Just be careful with who you want to protect, sweetheart.”

“Hey! Back off!”

Ren had stepped forward once again, this time with Ryuji as the two stared down Reed as he and the other detectives turned around and started to walk away. “Tell your friend not to be so rude and we might do the same.” William knew that deep inside, he was being a bit of a dick, but hey, these students already wanted to test them. He waved his hand up and walked away with Robbie and Alexander, leaving the students pretty mad as Ann wanted to run after them.

“Such… dicks!” she was able to get up and dust herself off, Morgana popping his head out of the schoolbag once again to meow loudly to the general public, but shout towards the detectives. “How dare they! Do not worry about them Lady Ann, they’re just jealous!”

“Goddamn assholes, how the hell did they know about his record though? That’s what I’m worried about when it comes to Ren!”

…

He was quiet for a moment, looking onward as the trio disappeared from sight, he turned around to see the group clearly down as he nodded his head. “Don’t pay them any attention. This is just like those at school who did it, we’ll just have to look out for them in the future.”

He was right, they would have to look out for them. Reed in particular.

…

Right where they wouldn’t expect him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cliffhanger of sorts! In an attempt not to spend too much time in palaces, most of the description will be done in summary form apart from important fights and details, the same can be said for Mementos encounters. I've managed to get this next chapter out quicker than previous ones, so I hope it still lives up to the rest of them. Thank you for the increased support/feedback!


	7. Tonya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On order from their leader, the Phantom Thieves have decided to dedicate a few days to training themselves in preparation for their second big treasure heist during their tenure, however an unexpected guest looks to disrupt the current order of activities and makes their way into the Metaverse to confront the group, causing them to take an extremely unlikely cause of action. Also, Ren finds himself attempting to get that little bit closer to Ann.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**17/05/16**

* * *

 

It wasn’t a day off for the Phantom Thieves whatsoever, as their cat companion in Morgana had made sure that their schedules were cleared up for their first training day inside Mementos. School that day continued to be a drag as the upcoming heist was on the team’s mind, Ren in particular as he found himself tapping the end of his desk with his fingers, thinking about strategies and reasonings. Taking what had happened at previous dates within the palace and the instance of Kawakami’s other self on strings, there was no doubt in his mind that somebody was still masterminding this operation at Shujin Academy. They felt no remorse going after Suguru Kamoshida, so why does he in particular feel hesitant about changing the heart of another teacher who has also done many students wrong.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” the voice below Ren’s desk called out to him as he moved backwards slightly, looking down at Morgana still curled up into the gap in his desk. “You’ve seen what she’s done, Ren. Even our own friends have been affected by this scandal and the sooner we find the truth, the better. That involves stealing the treasure inside her palace.”

“Leave it up to you to make this solely about treasure…” Ren groaned and continued to try and stay awake in Ms. Chouno’s class. “I’m not planning on giving up, especially with all the work that the group has put in so far. We’re all fighting for a purpose in this school and if ratting out these corrupt teachers sends that message, then so be it.”

Morgana chuckled to himself underneath the desk, sounding out a slight meow to the others in the room as if it wasn’t for everybody intently watching the lecture being given out at the front, they would’ve questioned such a noise coming from Ren Amamiya’s desk. “Heh heh… keep that confidence up and we’ll be done with this in no time!”

“Oh, and did I mention to you about something I have to attend before we go into Mementos?” Ren kept his voice down as he questioned Mona, pretending to flick through the pages of his English Language textbook to appear busy. “It won’t be long, I promise.”

“Stocking up on items? Upgrading your weapons? You’re a natural-”

“No, none of that. It’s… uh…” Ren started to stumble, thinking of an excuse to not tell Morgana about the photoshoot. Ann had already said she didn’t want Morgana or even Ryuji to know about this, so therefore, the raven haired student was left scratching his head thinking of an excuse. “Sojiro said that I wasn’t helping out around the store enough, so he’s put me in charge of bringing in this delivery. It’s going to be a lot to carry.”

In a way, he was telling the truth. Sojiro had kept bothering Ren about helping out around Leblanc, feeling his coffee making skills weren’t up to par. The delivery? That was the best lie he could come up without mentioning the other members of his group.

“Mhm. You should make sure your bond with your guardian stays on a good level. I’ll wait at Leblanc for you, in that case.” Morgana said as he curled back up, leaving Ren to get on with his lesson as he looked in front of him for a moment to see that Ann was on her phone and presumably texting some sort of message as her fingers moved up and down the virtual keyboard.

**(1) new message: Ann Takamaki**

The buzz of his phone being fairly silent helped to preserve the fact that he was now texting in class, but that just proved that Ann was messaging him and when he pulled his phone up to check, it was him alone and not a message to the usual Phantom Thieves group chat.

**Ann: nice save ;)**

**Ren: you were listening?**

**Ann: ofc silly, you’re right behind me!**

**Ren: let’s continue this after class.**

Ren put his phone down and slid it back inside his trouser pocket, looking up to see Ann turned around for a moment, flashing him a smile as she’s caught out by Ms. Chonou and asked to stand up in order to answer a question. Luckily for her, this was English and Ann was nearly fluent in the language. All the boy behind her could do was smile smugly and lean back, admiring the confidence she possessed that she just didn’t know she had.

* * *

**Shibuya**

**17/05/16**

**After School**

* * *

 

The school day ended surprisingly well for all three students, even Ryuji came out of the entrance saying that he was able to answer a few questions in class. As Ren sent Morgana on his way back to Leblanc, he told Ryuji to meet up in the station square as normal and gave him a pat on the back before the blonde headed off in his own direction. This left Ren waiting for Ann herself as she wasn’t too far behind. Within a few minutes, they had reached the meeting point that Ann herself had pointed out for the photoshoot. Pushing his glasses up to get a better view at the crew, Ren saw another woman already there and speaking with a man with a camera held over his shoulder and another sharply dressed man in a light brown suit jacket.

“Another model…” he muttered to himself, and just as Ren slid his hands into his pockets; the briefing ended and the opposing model turned around with a smile and walked up to Ann, clasping her hands together.

“Ann-senpai! I’m soooo pumped to get to work with you today!” the brunette spoke as she kept that smile on her face, in turn making Ann herself smile although it was new to be called ‘senpai’ by somebody. “After I saw you in last year’s show, I just…” they sniffed. “Oh, I think I’m gonna cry…”

Both student’s expressions changed to that of a confused one, Ann in particular as she felt slightly overwhelmed. On the other hand, Ren could just sit back and analyse the situation, hands buried in his pockets as usual. “U-um, it really wasn’t a big deal… that fashion show was tiny…” Ann said in response, scratching the top of her head and nervously laughing to try and feel a bit more comfortable.

“By the way, I’m Mika. And please, no honorifics.” she now said, completely disregarding the last few moments as Ann also seemed to want to forget about it as the situation was in danger of becoming slightly awkward. “I might be older, but you have loads more experience, Ann-senpai.”

“Alright, M-Mika… haha, it feels a little weird saying it like that…” Ann was quick to reply as she tried to laugh it off again, looking over to Ren for a potential distraction and only got a shrug of the shoulders as Ren was texting Ryuji in the meantime, he wasn’t going to stand here for nothing.

**(2) new messages: Ryuji Sakamoto**

**Ryuji: bro i got this wicked deal on a new shotgun**

**Ryuji: i thought i could try out a dual wield kinda thing, y’know?**

**Ren: just make sure you aren’t carrying too much in the metaverse.**

**Ryuji: huh**

**Ryuji: maybe i should try bringing something over than a club?**

**Ren: i think you’ll be fine with one gun and one weapon for close quarter combat.**

**Ryuji: i have no idea what that last thing is but it sounds dope so i’m listening to you on this one!**

**Ren: are you back in the square?**

**Ryuji: yah, been here for a while, kinda bored**

**Ren: do you know where yongen-jaya is?**

**Ryuji: that small neighbourhood? ya, i know**

**Ren: there’s a coffee shop called leblanc. you shouldn’t miss it on the way.**

**Ryuji: right, yeah, what about it?**

**Ren: well, just wait outside there and we’ll meet up with you.**

**Ryuji: alright! sounds good man!**

**…**

**Ryuji; should i get a coffee then? i prefer soda tbh**

**Ren: whatever you want, ryuji. we’ll be there soon.**

By the time Ren looked back up from his phone, the conversation between Ann and Mika hadn’t really progressed much. Mika probably didn’t even notice that Ann had brought company along because Ren looked like he was lost if anything. “You’re so nice, Ann-chan.” Mika said as she giggled to herself, Ann trying to maintain a normal expression as she’d never really been looked up to before, ever. Not a lot was running through her mind as she expected it to be a normal run of the mill photoshoot, but hey, she’ll take a new friend on the way, even if Mika was acting a little… too nice.

“Hey, can you teach me how to be a better model? You know, your everyday routines, stretches…” Mika said cheerfully as Ren started to tune more into the conversation. “Routines? You mean like… singing in the shower…?” Ann response was full of confusion, however she still tried to sound as cheerful in response to Mika’s question.

“O-oh, is that all you do…? Then, what kinda stuff do you eat?” Mika asked another question and looked just as confused, fidgeting with her hands in the meantime. “I’ve been looking all over for a place to import some organic green almonds. Plus I’m getting suuuper tired of eating quinoa. Do I need to like, boil it in hard water or something?”

“Um, almonds? I only ever eat those when they’re covered in chocolate…” Ann was honest, bless her, but it wasn’t the response Mika was clearly looking for; tilting her head to the side as Ann continued to speak. “And hard water? Isn’t it kinda tough to boil ice…?” Ren sighed behind her as he saw that Mika had gone silent, looking down at the ground before she finally spoke up again.

“Do you weigh yourself?”

“Oh, of course! Once a year for the health examinations at school.” Ann was a lot more confident with this answer, yet once again it caused a look of worry from Mika as she went silent for a moment.

“So… you’re gonna keep it all a secret from me, huh?” Mika followed up with and had a look of sadness on her face, causing Ann’s eyebrows to raise as Mika continued, slightly swaying from side to side. “I get it. I guess it’s hard trusting someone you just met…”

On the other side of things, Ren pushed his glasses up once more and was starting to suspect something with Mika. A guilt trip, perhaps. Did she really mean all those nice things to Ann? Either way, Ann herself looked quite taken back and guilty, raising a hand up to her mouth. “Th-That’s not it! I just don’t really think about that stuff…!” she exclaimed, stuttering at the start by simply being taken back from it all.

“It has nothing to do with not trusting you. It’s more that modelling is just like a hobby for me.” Ann further explained. It was then that Ren in particular saw the change in facial expression and attitude, Mika’s eyebrows lowering and her mouth twisting downwards into a frown.

“... What?”

Then, with another flick of a switch, Mika’s expression changed once again back to one of hurt and guilt. Mika cowered back slightly and her body language was more than evident of the fact that she was conveying a feeling of pain and hurtfulness. “Ann-senpai, that’s so horrible…! What do you mean you don’t care about modelling for these guys?!”

“Hey… she didn’t-” Ren attempted to speak up from the back, he saw right through Mika’s game and her lies, stepping forward to stand besides Ann herself as he was cut off by the incoming photoshoot crew.

“... You said that, Ann-chan?” the photoshoot assistant said, hurrying over to Mika’s side with who was presumably the cameraman has shown by the camera held over his right shoulder. “W-wait… I…” Ann tried to hastily explain what Mika had just accused her of, but once again, Mika spoke up in a louder voice.

“I love this magazine! Everyone tries so hard to make sure their product is the best…!” Mika went up to anger before simmering down again, expressing her ‘love’ for the magazine at hand as Ren could only shake his head as he gave her a stare that she caught and quickly looked away from.

“Just calm down, Mika-chan. Don’t worry, we all know that you’re giving it your all here.” the cameraman spoke as he gestured for the assistant to follow him back around to the main location of the photoshoot, but it only prompted another response from Mika herself. “But… you guys work so much harder than me… and I’m still the one getting comforted…”

That goddamn…! The boy knew that Mika was faking those sniffles and eye rubs, trying to garner more sympathy from the crew on hand as Ann was still lost in the dark and trying to explain herself. “H-hold on…!”

“Ann-chan, the truth is, we had both you and Mika-chan come down as substitutes for our missing model. We wanted both of you on the cover, but if you’re not really interested…” the assistant then said, raising his hands up and discussing something else with the cameraman.

“H-hey, I didn’t-” Ann tried to speak and found a hand on her shoulder from Ren, she looked up to him in surprise as the boy shook his head. “I know what you want to say… but she’s hooked them.” he said and both students looked up to see Mika rubbing her eyes once more, throwing in some sniffles and then looking around to the camera crew.

“Don’t worry, I… I can do it alone! I read the concept docs on my way here…” Mika sobbed before turning away for a moment, the same devilish grin as before appearing on her face as she chuckled slightly. Ren was quick to catch her out on this, as was Ann, however the lad was the first one to speak up.

“It must pay well to fake such sadness.” he stepped forward and faced Mika as lucky for her, the cameraman and the assistant were deep in talk about the upcoming shoot that would only star Mika after Ann’s apparent ‘disinterest’. “You faker!” Ann followed up with as both her and Ren found themselves facing a clearly satisfied Mika, and those last words from Ann allowed her to take the situation up a notch.

“Y-you’re so mean, Ann-chan! Do you really hate me that much?!” Mika bursts out, making sure to speak loud enough to catch the attention of the photoshoot crew once more. They soon called Mika over to start the photoshoot, leaving Ann looking dumbfounded as Ren simply scratched the back of his head and gestured for Ann to walk away with him from the scene.

“Shit… I really screwed that up…” she said, breathing out a heavy sigh as Ren was there to comfort her again. “She’s an excellent manipulator, I can give her that much.” Ren didn’t want to give Mika any praise as his main interest was helping Ann feel better about herself, he just couldn’t know how such a girl could change her attitude and manipulate a situation in her favour. Did she think her looks weren’t enough?

“Anyway, I totally ruined that shoot… jeez.” Ann flicked one of her twintails upwards, starting to twirl strands of her hair around her index finger. “But still, wasn’t Mika’s fake crying pretty incredible?”

“It had grace.” Ren’s answer was blunt as he kept his hands in his pockets, looking behind Ann to see Mika still cackling to herself over what just happened.

“Oh, maybe that’s what I’m missing! I-I dunno though, I think I’m pretty good at fake crying myself. I know the perfect technique.” Ann said, her mood slightly better as Ren smirked and raised an eyebrow at her answer. “Tell me more, o’ wise one.”

“The key is…”

“... you don’t actually cry!”

He sighed inside once again, looking up to Ann with a smile and a chuckle. “I mean, that’s why they call it ‘fake’.” Ren found the whole conversation slightly humorous as Ann vowed that it could come in handy whilst in the Metaverse, specifically stating when the group negotiates with shadows. The leader seemed to agree as he threw a thumbs up and the two talked some more before they realised that Ryuji and Morgana were waiting for them. They needed as much time in Mementos in order to improve both their fighting and communication skills. Everything was needed at this stage if they were going to continue the fight against society’s darkest corners.

It would only get tougher from here.

* * *

 

As the group met up outside of Leblanc, they found that Ryuji hadn’t even set foot inside the establishment and instead chose to stand outside and talk to Morgana one on one. Ren and Ann didn’t bother to ask what the two were talking about as Ryuji was more pumped to get going into the Metaverse. Meanwhile, Morgana saw Ren and Ann coming back together and… no delivery of sorts in the young lad’s possession. With Ann’s presence adding more to the whole story, it took a couple of seconds for the feline to jump into Ren’s bag and for the group to set off as he covered himself, not popping out and thinking about the possibility of their leader lying to him and keeping Morgana away from ‘Lady Ann’.

“He wouldn’t… it must have…” Morgana mumbled as Ren undid the zip and heard what was being said, looking down slightly with a curious look as if he felt Morgana was going to say something. The cat instead shook his head. “I-It’s fine! I was just thinking of if you guys have any requests on the Phan-Site-”

“Yep! I got another one from a student at our school, a girl or somethin’ from what I can see. It’s pretty minor, but who's gonna complain when we get another hit in Mementos?” Ryuji grinned as he continued to walk alongside Ren, not noticing Morgana slumping right back down into the schoolbag.

The group didn’t take long to reach station square, which seemed to become their usual hangout spot despite being in clear view of the public whenever they would jump into the Metaverse. The often hustle and bustle usually covered their sudden disappearance into thin air and Ren brought up the point that if it was working, there was no need to change it. Ann was on lookout as she made sure to pick an opportune moment, pulling out her phone as the app was already loaded and flashing on the screen.

“Are we all ready?” she asked, looking first towards Ryuji as he nodded and then towards Ren who did the same. Her gaze then transferred towards Morgana, who was now out of Ren’s bag and staring off into the sky. “Morgana?”

Ann’s voice brought Morgana back down to reality as he frantically nodded, not wanting to seem weak at all in front of her. She smiled and looked down to her phone, checking the group’s surroundings one more time and tapped the logo on the screen one more time, sending the world around them into the usual distortion of red and black lines…

...

“... what?!”

William Reed had spotted the group from a distance and tried to listen in; the more information the better as both Robbie and Alexander had gone off shopping to get supplies in for the week. They were on a rota and it was Robbie’s turn to do the food shop, however he managed to drag Alexander along with him as the leader of the operation used this time to get out and try to find the three students who now had a reason to dislike him. Staying in the shadows was a good idea as he walked into central Shibuya, using his hand to look through the crowd of people easier to finally spot his targets. It helped that they stood out compared to other students who attended Shujin Academy, with the blonde spiky hair of Ryuji Sakamoto being his key as he fastened up his tie and started a walk.

Then, his phone started buzzing from inside his pocket.

It was that and the world changing around him that led to the outburst from William as he lifted up his sunglasses and slowly found that everybody in the crowd around him was slowly disappearing. “M-my p-phone!” he said out loud and found himself visibly shaking, it was a side of him that even he hadn’t experienced before. The mysterious red and black eye logo was in the center of his screen and pulsating, causing Reed to nearly drop his phone because of how nauseating it all was.

“M-maybe I can call somebody… they must know what’s going on…!” William pressed the home button and navigated over to his contacts list… before realising that he had yet to register anybody in his phone due to it being brand new and from headquarters. He pressed back off of it and cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Hey! Is there anybody around?!”

 _Those students_ , he thought to himself, _I swear I could see them a moment ago and now…_

The young agent jogged forward as he examined the open space and pocketed his device once more, taking a few deep breaths and running a hand through his gelled back hair. He didn’t even have the words anymore, it was all too much for him to handle. William thought of what to do until he walked past the stairs leading down to the train station, hearing a faint voice in the distance as his instincts led Reed to jump behind one of the corners and peer down far enough to get a good range of hearing.

“... are we good to go? I don’t know about you guys but I am pumped…!”

“There’s somebody down there… from the voice alone, it doesn’t seem like they’re any older than twenty-five and the tone screams immaturity from a mile away. A high school student…? No…” William was speaking to himself, wide eyed and all as despite nobody being around, he felt it was right to act as he always did, proud and expectant of whatever and whenever. He always felt there were eyes watching him and this was surprisingly no different.

“... I’m not getting out of here without an answer.” he said to himself once more, coming out from around the corner as he took one more deep breath and started to step down the stairs and into the train station. It felt the exact same as any other time he’d come down here to cross lines and whatnot, however as he gained a bit of speed, everything around him was coming apart. “The walls, the steps… this isn’t normal.”

He was absolutely right, this wasn’t normal.

* * *

 

The shadows on the first floor of Mementos provided easy sparring opponents for the Phantom Thieves as each of them aimed to not only improve their individual battle skills, but to combine their unique powers in order to form stronger bonds as a team and partners. The surprising duo of Skull and Mona proved to be a deadly force against the poor enemies that came up against them, as Mona’s small frame easily allowed him to be launched forward by the more athletic Skull and with their respective sword and club, shadows didn’t stand much of a chance. That didn’t mean their magic skills weren’t coming along well as a Zio from Skull could easily be sent down with more force with a quick and easy Garu from Mona.

“Hell yeah! Give me five, Mona!” Skull emphatically said as they once again took out another shadow that approached their campout spot in one of the many spacious rooms in Mementos. Mona scurried along and jumped up to slap hands with the blonde, for once, not arguing with him as they looked over to see the other duo getting along nicely.

This was Joker and Panther, who were much more less reliant on brute force and more on outsmarting an enemy and looking as good as possible whilst doing so. Mona told them time after time that certain situations didn’t require them to be ‘messing around’, however he kept being proven wrong by the sheer skill of Joker in battle. His aerial ability was something else and it was no wonder that he was perfect for organising ambushes on enemies to gain the advantage. On the top floor, the enemies were equivalent to those they fought in Kamoshida’s Palace, so ambushes often ended with the Phantom Thieves taking down shadows before they even got a chance to react.

“Showtime! Arsene!” the leader shouted aloud as he was being approached by a horde of Obariyon, his trusty sidekick of a Persona in Arsene appearing on Joker’s command in the typical blue flame. “Stay put. Let them come and strike on my command.”

He turned to Panther whilst saying this who simply nodded back and Joker started his run, taking advantage of how much space the group really had, looking around to see that Panther had extended her arms out and was also getting ready to summon her Persona.

“Dance, Carmen!” she let out as Carmen took form, as eloquent as ever as each enemy was getting increasingly closer and Panther started to back up, seeing that Joker was behind the crowd and leaping up high in the air as Arsene followed. They were already aware of where the other was as Joker extended a gloved hand outwards down towards the horde! “Eiga!”

“Agilao!” Panther had leapt up at the same time, not getting the same height as Joker, however combined with the curse energy that was being inflicted upon each shadow, they fell to the ground and vanished into nothingness as the flames did their job. All that was left was the lasting crackles from the fire as all members re-grouped, Mona quickly leaping up and transforming into his bus form.

“Why the rush, Mona?” Joker questioned, a smile still on his face as the bus turned around to face him. “We aren’t even in any sort of danger, it’s fine to stay here for a bit and talk about strategy.”

“You out of all people should be thirsting for tougher competition. These shadows have become laughable to come up against!” Mona was proud as he spoke and the other three members of the group sighed and started walking up and towards the inside of the bus itself. Skull tapped Joker on the shoulder as the leader’s attention was grabbed, hands still in his trench coat pockets.

“Dude, don’t you think Mona is acting a bit… weird? I ain’t one to complain when somebody is fired up, but-”

“Eh. You know how he is.” Joker interrupted Skull mid-sentence and just shrugged his shoulders, opening the driver’s door to the Mona-Bus and sliding into the driver’s seat. It was clear that Joker didn’t want their conversations about their feline friend to be picked up by the latter himself, especially considering that he already had to lie today about being at Ann’s photoshoot, he wondered if Mona had caught on.

“I gotta admit though, man. You and Panther know your goddamn stuff, I never expected the two of you to have so much chemistry!” Skull changed the topic as he walked around the side and slipped into the passenger’s seat, looking behind him to see Panther herself leaning on both of her elbows on the seat, looking down at Skull with a smile on her face. “You jelly?”

“N-no! Why the hell would I be?!”

Joker chuckled as he pushed his foot forward on the exhaust, using the wheel to turn around and drive the group out of that certain section. It wouldn’t be long before they found the stairwell that would take them down further into the depths of this mysterious place. And yet again, the topic in Joker’s mind switched to Mona and his memories of Mementos. That was the end goal to all of this apart from trying to change society for the better. He could only wonder what was at the bottom of this place.

* * *

 

“You have gotta be fuckin’ jokin’…”

Unaware of what was going on only a floor beneath him, William was open mouthed as he saw the spectacle awaiting for him at the bottom of the steps. It was an outlook of sorts; distortion everywhere he looked as his footprints seemed to leave a permanent mark on the floor, that of which gave him a slight shock as he experimented with the process before walking around and knocking on a wall. It was fragile, definitely. The cracks were showing all around him as Reed walked up to a ticket gate, falling apart by the machinery as he ran his hand across the surface.

“There’s nobody here, but from what I heard earlier…” his eyes darted over past the ticket gate and towards a larger and darker stairwell that undeniably would lead to his target. His mind was telling him to go back and try and find another way out of here, his heart though was telling him to investigate this unknown place. It was beyond anything he had seen in reality and ultimately, too good to pass up on. He had taken jobs that could have resulted in major injuries or worse, death. This would be no different.

He started heading down the steps to the depths of this unknown place of distortion.

* * *

 

The Phantom Thieves had endured a successful few hours within Mementos itself and had ventured to the bottom of the Path of Qimranut. They felt stronger from the end of each battle and shadows weren’t much of an issue anymore as Mona had once again transformed into a bus and it was Joker’s duty to drive them out of this place. Skull sat leaning against the window as he looked outside to see the empty husk that was Mementos; shadows still popping up, however the group had come to a consensus that they all needed some rest in preparation for tomorrow as well as the eventual big heist that was stealing Kawakami’s treasure.

“Man… we did a lot today, didn’t we?” Skull decided to lay back and relax, pushing his mask up and above his eyes, letting it rest on his forehead. He rubbed his eyes as Panther leaned forward, scruffing up the blonde hair of Skull as she giggled and resumed looking ahead at the distorted tracks of Mementos. “Mhm! Another successful session!”

As Joker looked back at his smiling teammates, they were all getting closer to the entrance that would lead them up to the outlook where a team meeting would usually follow. Joker himself knew that Panther had requested to speak to him outside of the Metaverse and looking back to her fidgeting in her seat, it was obvious that she couldn’t wait to get out of here as well, catching his gaze and throwing a wink in his direction.

“Hey… hey! Dude! I see a…” Skull started to say as he pushed his face right up against the windscreen, looking right in front of them as the platform started to further come into view. The bus stopped in its tracks as Joker and Panther both looked towards where Skull’s eyes were fixated on to. “... no way! That’s…”

* * *

 

“Huh?”

William had finally stopped climbing down step after step and reached a platform of sorts, looking out into the abyss and seeing that wherever he was, this wasn’t the train station and it was absolutely massive. The dark red vibe he was getting off the walls and the atmosphere spelled danger for him as it felt like something straight out of a video game, absolute fantasy. With another deep breath in and out, William blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming and shook his head. He really wasn’t able to comprehend what was going on and felt like a kid again. Growing into adulthood whilst being part of a secret agency definitely took its toll on William, he didn’t even get to spend a lot of time with his family. The family that…

“Fuck…” he knelt down to the ground, memories flooding into his head and he had to really shake to get it all out and stand back up, examining where the hell he needed to go to get anywhere closer to finding out where he was. “I should check my phone again… maybe it can show me the way.”

William pulled out his phone as he looked up in the top corner and his suspicions were confirmed, there was no signal whatsoever. Even if he had remembered to register any contacts into this new piece of technology then it wouldn’t really benefit him. His thought process was cut off by the sound of tires screeching in the distance, nearly sending him into a state of panic as Reed didn’t have the time or capacity to move out of the way to even stare at the vehicle as it quickly made its way down the tracks and stopped right in front of him.

“T-this might be it... “

* * *

 

Joker stepped out of the Mona-Bus and slammed the door shut, letting the other members of his group step out as well before Mona converted back to his phantom thief form with a simple leap and a perfect landing. He looked at the individual in front of him and knew that they were out of their mind. Neither seemed to be expecting others, humans even, to be existing down in this state of reality as the leader used his arms to lift himself up onto the platform. He didn’t bother to push his mask up and instead decided to analyse whoever this was in further detail, each step causing the man opposite him to back up and finally come to a stop when the stairwell was in touching distance.

“Wait! You’re…” Joker suddenly said as he pointed forward with his red gloved hand, not expecting him to be cut off by the individual running forward at him and swinging with his right arm as he barely caught Joker across the face. The strike grazed the face of the boy as he flipped up backwards and to the edge of the platform, getting a closer look at the assailant as he thought back to the other day. The name quickly sprung to his mind as William Reed, the apparent detective whose group had known about Joker’s criminal record and even went as far to blow smoke in Panther’s face and leave with smirks on their faces.

Before he could think of anything else, Joker threw his hands up and caught a fist heading straight to his face once again. He pushed William backwards as the Metaverse’s capabilities made Joker a hell of a lot stronger than he appeared, overpowering the young adult as Reed rolled to the side and stood in a position to fight, wiping his mouth with his arm and devilishly smiling whilst letting out heavy breath after heavy breath.

“Tell me… tell me what this place is!” Reed shouted out, noticing the language used by the rebel and switching it up to Japanase, as his question was seriously despite the fact that his face screamed the fact that he was slowly losing his mind, not used to the impact that the Metaverse had on the normal human. He saw the masked boy in front of him as an enemy and a potential threat, especially due to the fact that he dared to fight back. Joker remained quiet, not choosing to answer back as he threw a hand up, trying to stop anything else from happening.

“You look around my age… if not just a bit younger… alright, just…” William was still trying to take it all in as he overlooked the platform, seeing that other masked individuals were starting to climb up and stand by the black frizzy haired boy in the white mask and black trenchcoat. Another was in a red latex suit and had platinum pigtails; a red mask to follow from the white mask he saw from the boy. Then, as he saw the second boy and third member of the group climb up, one feature that stood out was that his mask was resting on his forehead as William got a good view of his full face.

A flashback went off in his head, remembering the three Shujin Academy students who he and his two partners had talked to…

…

**… he knew these people.**

“I have to be tripping… I have to be…” William placed a hand to his head and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself down to the point where he could fully analyse the situation. The Phantom Thieves simply looked at him and didn’t say a word back to his inconsequential ramblings, with Joker looking over to see that Skull’s mask was still above his eyes and broke the silence of the group.

“Skull. Put your mask down.” he stoically stated, crossing his arms as he took a step forward and looked up the apparent detective, who now seemed calm enough despite heavy bags being underneath both of his eyes.

“Ah, shit!”

The spiked blonde pulled the unique mask down over his eyes as both him and Panther watched their leader step further forward, now quite close to the unknown individual. This gave them the chance to discuss among themselves, Skull speaking first as he slid closer to Panther. “Did you know that other people had the ability to come down here? I thought that shit was impossible if you didn’t have the app.”

“Shh… I think Joker is onto something.” Panther responded and folded her arms, not wanting to take another step forward and simply leave it all to their leader.

It was an awkward staredown between both Joker and William Reed, however since Reed had been able to restore a sense of awareness, he didn’t stand down from the masked man although it wasn’t exactly the most friendliest of situations. It actually took a full minute for somebody to speak up, and it was Joker.

“I know you, **Detective William Reed**.”

“...”

He was slightly speechless, looking away and down at the ground as he wanted to swing again, he really did. William just felt that it wasn’t right and looked back up at the boy who just perfectly repeated his name back at him.

“... you can take the mask off.” William said back in response, not letting any of his ground be taken up by Joker as the boy’s expression was fully serious. He didn’t move a muscle from Reed’s request. “I’m not asking for too much, am I? You know my fuckin’ name for crying out loud.”

“Answer me a single question. How did you get here?” Joker didn’t even acknowledge what Reed had asked of him and buried his hands deep in his pockets like usual, it was his regular stance at this point. After a few seconds of watching William think, he saw him reach down into his pocket and pull out a mobile phone. Joker watched intently as William unlocked the phone and swiped across, tapping on the Meta-Nav application and turning it around so Joker could get a full view of the screen.

“This… I think.”

Skull could get a good view of what was going on, seeing that William was presenting the Meta-Nav application outwards the rebel. He gasped slightly and stepped forward to stand next to Joker, looking over as William withdrew his phone and placed it back inside his trouser pocket. “Do I get my answers now?” he said, turning towards the new individual now to Joker’s right, Reed stared him down with the same straight face.

“And can you help me out?” Reed’s voice was full of sarcasm as Skull walked straight up to him, the two meeting face to face as Joker pushed his arm in between the two and forced them to separate before anything could come of William’s clear attempt to rile the blonde up.

“Joker… a word.”

That voice came out from behind Joker belonged to Mona, who had finally joined the group on the platform as William looked over towards the direction of the voice, seeing what looked like a cat hybrid standing up on its legs with a sword and bandana. It caused him to lower his eyebrows and look on in half confusement and half shock. This really was fantasy. As Mona ran forward to stand by Joker’s side, the rebel looked down at him as everybody’s attention was still on William.

“There’s something dwelling within him. The faintest sign of a rebel’s will, but something else is overpowering that.” Mona spoke as Joker thought to himself for a moment and saw that Reed’s eyes were now focused on their navigator. “We need to draw that power out of him.”

“I understand.” Joker gave William some room as Reed was still confused as he was curious, taking a few more breaths as he witnessed each member of the group whisper to each other and now the girl had joined them in their line. He was outmatched and didn’t know what to expect, staying on guard in the process as they seemed to be done with their meeting.

“It’s funny.” William started to say, slicking some of his hair backwards as he started to roll up the sleeves of his white shirt, a slight smile showing on the man’s face. “I didn’t know that the students of Shujin Academy were into cosplay so much. Is it a tradition?”

“Shut up.” Joker reached downwards and drew his dagger, spinning it around in his hand as William was quick to realise what he was holding. Students holding such weapons? They really were messed up as he thought. The masks didn’t do very well to hide their features that made them comparable to the three students that Reed identified only yesterday. “Our identities don’t concern you. It’s just a shame that this moment may as well be your last…”

“Ha… ha… alright.” the sight of the knife definitely sent some chills down William’s spine, not knowing how the hell an apparent high school student got his hands on such a weapon. He then watched as the same student uncovered part of his trench coat, reaching to his waistband and unhooking a handgun, pointing it straight ahead as Reed’s thoughts went from bad to worst.

“Listen to us carefully-”

William ran forward and held his arms out, spearing Joker to the ground in an instant as he wrestled the handgun away from his hands and got it in his possession, throwing it away as he saw that the other members of the group were acting quickly, all shouting through the mess that had now been created. Reed moved himself off of Joker as he stood up quickly, seeing Skull run straight at him with an arm and grabbing said right arm. He twisted the arm of the blonde and forced a yell from him, throwing him over his back for a judo throw as Skull was sent in the ground reeling.

“You’re all sick in the head!” William yelled out as he saw Skull getting up slowly, reaching around his back for what he thought was another weapon, wanting to try and disarm the rebel as soon as possible before Reed received a devastating shot across his back. Panther whipped straight across William’s back, sending an unholy pain through his body as Reed fell forward to a knee, still not wanting to go down as Panther whipped him one more time on the back of the neck, making him scream out in pain and fall to the ground fully.

“You fuckin’...!” From his view on the floor, he felt his right arm being held onto as William flipped around to see a yellow gloved fist coming straight at his face, sending him backwards and back to the ground.

“Skull! There was no need for that!”

“I thought you said we had to…”

“... urgh.”

Feeling another hand on his collar, Reed was pulled up to a seated position and found himself facing the raven haired thief they called Joker. This had to be him… this had to be him… this had to be that… criminal! There was another silence in the room as William was pulled up to his feet, Joker still having a grasp of his collar and wasn’t looking to let go any time soon. Positioning herself behind William with Mona at her side, Panther cracked her whip against the ground as Reed gulped, trying to kick forward with his foot and only getting a quicktime knee in response from Joker to the gut.

“Don’t even try to fight back.” Joker said, withdrawing his dagger again as his gun was still scattered somewhere from the surprise takedown. He held the blade up to wards the face of Reed, causing more heavy breathing from the young adult. “How does it feel being a useless pawn of the police, detective?”

“... pawn…? You don’t know who the fuck… you’re speaking to…”

“Oh, I do. You’re in our world and now you abide by our rules. Just like those whose lives you take advantage of in order to benefit your own needs.” Joker was fully getting into his role that Mona had set him to do, spinning the dagger around once again as Reed winced a few times, still feeling the effects from the knee to his lower chest. “You’re replaceable. A mistake, if you will.”

…

“... did you just call me… a mistake…”

…

_A flashback was going through his head, back to the days when his life was considered normal. It was back when his life didn’t mean as much as it did now._

_“It was a mistake to have you!”_

_The disappointment._

_The regret._

_The rage._

_He felt every last beating._

…

Back in reality, William felt an unnatural sensation within his mental state. He felt the dagger’s presence and swore under his breath, looking down Joker, who looked as unforgiving as ever, before he looked away for a moment and down at the ground. His eyes were out of view from William’s sight as in order to distract Reed, Panther saw what was going on and unleashed her whip once again across the back of William to send another shock of pain through his body and cause another yell to emit from his mouth.

_Mona, I hope you were right._

He turned back around, still straight faced. “A piece of shit polished with some gel, I guess it doesn’t pay to be insecure about that sort of stuff, huh?”

William could feel himself getting more and more frustrated, a vein appearing on his forehead as he felt his right fist tense up. All that he could tell is that his life was in danger and that his personal issues back in the United Kingdom were getting brought all up again… by some damn high school student! He thought that he blocked all of those bad memories out and kept the good ones for when he believed that he meant something.

“... don’t speak another…”

He had to cough and tried to use this for a distraction, coughing straight up in Joker’s face as the boy turned away and slowly used his glove to wipe away some of the excess saliva that was dropped straight onto his face. Joker knew that this whole thing was supposed to drag the inner power within this detective, however, he now had a reason to really amp up the pressure even if he understood whilst William did such a thing.

“Even in desperation, you can’t help but resort to such disgusting tactics.” Joker said, forcing himself to look away again as he used the full strength of his left knee to drive it straight into the gut of Reed once again.

This time, he let go of William, who fell to the ground and was on his knees in absolute agony. Reed tried to crawl forward and found something now touching the back of his head. Skull had drawn the model shotgun from further persuasion from Mona, who in turn started to cackle right off to the side of William who simply slumped down and felt everything around him just fall apart.

“Mwehehe! It’s not every day that trash gets dragged through the depths of Mementos. Oh, this is so entertaining!” Mona shouted, running around to face Reed himself as Joker and Panther stood together, watching what went on and especially focusing on how uncomfortable Skull felt as he pointed the shotgun straight at the back of William’s head. “It’s never wise to fall into the wrong crowd. Imagine what those close to you will think if their precious friend never returns…”

“... you… you bastard…!”

For a moment, William’s eyes flash a flicker of yellow as both Joker and Panther see this, walking over to try and stop Mona as they first get Skull to remove the model gun from behind the young adult’s head. Mona doesn’t seem to realise as he continues to shout straight into the face of William. “Such peasants as yourself should know what to do and listen to those who are valued much higher than them. I, my team, and many others hold more value to this world than you could ever!”

“...”

…

He was pretending to laugh too much to realise what was truly going on.

* * *

**???**

**??/??/10**

* * *

 

“I’m home!”

A cheerful and young boy called out as he shut the front door to his house carefully, taking off his brown leather shoes at the front door and nearly sliding them inside the conveniently placed shoe rack. He made sure his tie was straightened up and his jumper was dusted off, walking through the corridor as he heard the distinct sounds of his mother and father only a room away.

The boy sighed, at this moment, there wasn’t a day when they weren’t at each other’s throats. He slumped up the staircase and thought to himself when it would all end, when he could have a simple family life without feeling like he was just an object to be thrown around between discussions. His mother would declare that he was hers, whilst his father said the exact opposite and…

… it never ended well, but the boy always tried to keep the spirit up in the household, especially with his older sister still living upstairs and she at times was the only person he felt safe enough to talk to. He called her name, trying to see where she was and for once, there was no reply anywhere in the house as the boy climbed up the stairs further and walked around to the door to her room. Wrapping a hand around the handle, he went to push it open.

“William!”

His name called out from downstairs and the boy knew that he had to be down there in an instant, that was the kind of family he lived with. William quickly dashed into his room and threw his rucksack onto the single bed before walking out and quickly making his way back down to where the voices had come from earlier. In an instant, the young lad could see what was going on as he raced towards the light of the kitchen…

…

…

“We kicked your sister out, she’s been causing too much of a ruckus.”

The voice of his stern father, arms crossed and tapping his foot on the ground as his mother was nowhere to be seen despite him hearing her voice only a few minutes ago when entering the house. He feared another argument had drove her away for a moment as his father sighed, wiping his brow as William could only look at the ground in disbelief. The prospect of living on his own with such problematic parents was something he didn’t want to accept. It couldn’t have been that bad…

… right?

“It’s okay, son. You don’t need to surround yourself with such bad people anymore.”

…

A flash forward to the future, a hand coming towards his face and bringing him down to the ground.

…

“And your mother, she’s… had to make a quick call outside.”

…

Another flash forward, the names he was called, the label he had to endure.

…

The next voice was his own.

“They aren’t gone, are they?”

* * *

 

**_“Congratulations. It took you this long to find the strength within.”_ **

**…!**

A voice called out in William’s head as he lifted his hands up to his head, forcing himself to stand back upwards as he stumbled backwards and smashed his entire back into a nearby wall, yelling out in pain and holding his head with both hands. Mona was the first to realise what was going on as the rest of the group joined in observing the action, also coming to the realisation of what they actually just did to the young adult.

“I never want to do anything like that again…” Panther still had her whip out, slinging it over her right shoulder as she sighed and looked over towards Skull who didn’t look as pleased. “I got a thrill out of it, I guess… still doesn’t mean that what we did to draw this guy’s power out was kinda fucked up.”

On the other hand, Mona and Joker didn’t say a word and instead intently looked at the convulsing William Reed as he fell down to a knee and opened an eye momentarily to reveal the familiar yellow tint. Reed’s mouth was watering due to the pain that was impacting his mental state and physical state, trying to make sense of the words being spoken to him.

**_“You want to fight for your pride and start a war? Then let’s make one together!.”_ **

**_“The path in which you walk has chained you down for far too long!”_ **

**_“Let us sign a contract…”_ **

His eyes fully opened as he stood up and the yellow glare stared at each of the Phantom Thieves, bringing a sickening smile to William’s face as he stopped convulsing and was now letting out loud and deep breaths.

**_“I am thou… thou art I…”_ **

William felt his hand throw itself out in front of him, causing a blue flame to sprout from the floor as he walked forward and now found himself starring down a golden tinted sword, stuck into the top of a stone podium that irradiated with the same blue flames that the group and now Reed were familiar with. He once again felt his hands wrap around the handle of the sword, gripping around the base with both of them as he started to pull upwards, yelling out in pain with each slide of the sword.

_**“There’s no need to hide behind a mask!”** _

_**“Unsheathe the sword that will guide you towards your destiny!”** _

_**…** _

**“UWAAAAAAAAAA!”**

_**...** _

Both hands fully gripped the handle as it came out of the stone podium; held up in the air by William as the blue flame now enveloped his entire body and some of the surrounding area. It forced the Phantom Thieves to jump off of the platform and retreat just below; all of them looking up at the spectacle as Joker himself seemed quite tense.

“A sword?! What the…?!” Skull exclaimed, jumping back even more as he reached up to grab his mask, however couldn’t help but watch what was going on as the flame finally stopped for a moment and Reed appeared in a brand new outfit. His shirt had been ripped wide open and replaced with a black vest, a long, brown coat buttoned up with the collar raised up as high as it would go. His trousers had changed to pure black, with his ankle high boots now shining in the darkness. On his head, he sported a black cap that was tipped up slightly to reveal an extended tuft of hair sticking out and draped down over his forehead.

“His power is… it’s totally unexpected! Everybody, stay on guard!” Mona seemed worried himself, thinking in his head that going through the process of torturing another man just to bring out his Persona might not have been the smartest idea. He wanted the Phantom Thieves to become strong and famous enough to find his memories in Mementos, and unfortunately, they didn’t know that Morgana was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.

Could he be the piece of the puzzle? The feline thought to himself, looking up to Joker who still hadn’t moved much since the awakening started to take place. He finally looked down and around at his team members, his head unmoving as he looked up towards the detective that stood in their way.

William felt another energy presence as he opened his eyes, taking the sword from earlier and lifting it above his head to slide it into a holster on his back that had taken form during the transformation. The man himself only felt one name running through his head as a tarot card appeared above him, falling down surrounded by a blue energy field.

**…**

**“I CALL THEE! ALFRED!"**

**…**

He smashed the tarot card in his right hand, the Persona finally taking full form as it appeared behind William with the blue flames disappearing. It was a large overseeing figure, decked from top to bottom in shining armour apart from a flowing red mane coming from out of the metal helmet. Alfried also held its own sword as they rested it on their shoulder, William finding a whole new level of confidence as he started to slowly walk forward and experience every sense of his new power in each step.

“You…”

He pointed down at Joker in particular, his face full of anger.

**“... perish beneath my sword!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best with the awakening scene for the first OC, and I hope I did an alright job! The concept of coming up with Alfred for a Persona was a process and a half, however it worked out quite well in terms of where I wanted to take the OC group of characters in the future. And the awakening process? I hope everybody enjoys that as well! The reason for such a different awakening and Metaverse appearance... well, I'd be spoiling too much. 
> 
> And another cliffhanger is always a nice way to end a chapter. The next one will be out soon!


	8. Vivid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William Reed has awakend to the power of a Persona through an eloborate, albeit slightly disturbing plan from Morgana and the rest of the Phantom Thieves. With Alfred by his side, he prepares to go to battle with the leader of the group in search for answers. Meanwhile, the student council president tries to fit in and runs into a familar face whilst judgement day for Sadayo Kawakami is drawing closer and closer.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**17/05/16**

* * *

 

It was just another day of school for the student council president herself, Makoto Niijima. Transitioning from a second-year to a third-year didn’t take much work considering that she was the student council president as it was; having the responsibility of making sure that the student body was kept in order. She always wondered to herself the prospect of having ‘too’ many books in her possession at Shujin, either always clutching them close to her chest or making sure they fit inside her bag, but of course, she had to answer to her sister, Sae. This time, all of her books were tucked neatly inside her school bag with no need to carry any in her hands. There was no room for slipping up and whatever precautions had to be taken, Makoto would take them.

As another school day came to an end, Makoto was walking down the hallway of the third floor of the school, head held up high as usual and always getting constant stares from the younger years. It was something she was used to, and hearing person after person refer to as a ‘robot’ didn’t do much for the brunette’s self-confidence. She was easily able to brush off such small whispers, however time after time, she really thought to herself if what she was doing was right. What would others think about the one person who always answers to the principal without question? The ‘ **good honour student** ’.

…

 _It doesn’t matter_ , she thought to herself and brushed some of her hair upwards, _I just need to live up to these expectations and I know that I can do it._

Makoto reached the door to the student council room and sensibly knocked on the door, letting whoever was inside already know that she was walking in. However, as she entered into the small room and closed the door behind her, she soon realised that nobody else was currently present. This was definitely an odd factor as Makoto had already made herself late from staying in the library to return and take out a book on law. For the others not to be here and talking about recent events, yeah, it was quite odd. She walked over to the set of tables and chairs, placing her bag on the table itself before pulling a chair out and taking a seat.

“From my calculations… the final period ended only ten minutes ago…” Makoto said to herself and placed a hand to her chin, reaching over into her bag to retrieve her phone. She opened it up and expected something, yet got nothing in return as there was no new calls, texts or notifications in general. She sighed.

The only contacts Makoto had on her phone were those of the other student council members and her own sister; nobody else would give her the time of day and in a way, it made Makoto feel isolated. Was it a good thing though? She was here to study and move on to greater things at one of the top universities in Tokyo, at least that’s what Sae and Principal Kobayakawa had promised her.

…

She shook her head, dozing off slightly as Makoto finally noticed a post it-note stuck in the middle of the table in front of her. The honour student reached over and took it in her right hand, holding the bright yellow material up to her face and reading it aloud.

**“Niijima-senpai. Principal Kobayakawa has called off today’s student council meeting and I couldn’t stay for long, so I hope that is sufficient enough. There was no reason given and I won’t really question it, because if I’m being honest, these meetings are starting to drag out.”**

Reading that last line was quite concerning from Makoto’s perspective. Did that mean she wasn’t doing a good job at standing as their student council president? She boiled it all down to timetable issues and looked up at the clock in the room, it still being fairly early on in the day as her sister wouldn’t be expecting her back home until much later on. There was no reason not to start her usual after school study sessions.

Something irked her about all of this though.

…

It was probably nothing.

* * *

**Path of Qimranut - Mementos**

**17/05/16**

After-School **// Evening**

* * *

 

The sharp end of the golden tinted sword stared down the leader of the Phantom Thieves as he waved a hand backwards, telling the rest of his teammates to back up as they silently followed orders, leaving Joker himself as the only member on the frontline against this supposed new threat. William Reed had a near murderous intent hidden inside of him and the actions of the Phantom Thieves had drawn that out of him, awakening William to his unique Persona, Alfred.

The holy knight stood behind the young adult as William held his newly acquired blade out in front of him, trying to get used to this new form of power as he also examined each new item of clothing. William himself was absolutely shocked at what just happened, however it all felt natural in a way as whatever this being was behind him, it certainly looked to help him out in this type of situation. Morgana was shocked the most out of each member of the group, despite not showing it on his face as he stepped the furthest backwards and thought about his actions. To tortue somebody else in order to bring out their hidden power was cruel, especially with how William reacted to such treatment.

Morgana felt remorse… it just didn’t overpower his curiosity.

The use of a sword instead of a mask was the first thing to catch his attention. Was there a reason for this? Were different Personas awakened in different ways? Speaking of different, one thing that William barely possessed with that of a rebellious will, something that Joker, Skull and Panther all had within them and it was bursting to the point of no return. The new user definitely had some sort of will buried deep inside, yet there was something overpowering that.

Before he could think anymore, the fight in front of him was mere seconds away from starting.

“How are you adjusting to the power?” Joker smirked and spoke towards Reed, spinning the dagger around his hand. Although the ordeal of acting in such a way made him feel slightly uncomfortable, Joker still wanted to make sure that William was fired up in preparation for what was about to go down.

“I don’t have time for these questions,” William started, holding the sword forward and looking over at the blade. “I only want answers.”

“Then fight me, and you’ll get them.” Joker wasn’t going to stand down and walked closer, lifting a hand up to his mask and the blue flame sparked. “ **Arsene!** ”

The gentleman thief appeared in an instant behind the leader of the Phantom Thieves, staring a hole right through the new Persona that William had summoned. “You’ve just summoned your Persona; a manifestation of your inner self and the key to this other world.” Joker now has his arms crossed, that of which Arsene copied.

“Persona? Huh…” despite the clear tension, William shrugged his shoulders casually and walked closer, the tint of the sword glowing brighter as he approached. “Don’t try to diverge away from what you bastards just did to me, deadass. This power might have been chance… but you’ll be damned if I ain’t gonna use this blade to take your fuckin’ head off!”

The anger of the young adult had reached its limit as he swung the sword forward, his Persona doing the exact same as Joker raised his own blade up to collide with William’s swing. Arsene and Alfred were colliding against each other for control as it took a few seconds before Alfred swung once more, taking Arsene and Joker back a few steps. The leader’s teammates ran forward to try and step in, Panther in particular had jumped up to stand beside the raven haired phantom thief.

“Carme-“

An arm stopped her from fully reaching up to her mask, and it was Joker himself. He took a deep breath and looked to see William already readying an attack. “Just leave it to me… please.”

Panther pouted slightly and wasn’t looking in front of the duo, trying to plead her case as she ran forward regardless. “I won’t ever leave you to fight alon-“

A kick connected from William right across Panther’s face, sending her out and to the floor as Reed took his sword up and pointed it towards Joker. “Should I have mentioned that this was going to be a fair one-on-one contest? No? Ain’t that a shame!”

Before Joker had time to react and help Panther up at all, he saw the blade coming at him once again and quickly ducked underneath to swing his dagger upwards to slice right through some of the material of William’s coat. He performed a flip backwards to his feet and noticed something at his feet…

… **his handgun!** Without even taking a second to think, Joker picked up the weapon and started to fire bullets at Reed. On instinct, Reed raised his sword horizontally and felt his own arms move as the bullets deflected off of the blade and rebounded back at the same boy who fired them. Joker slid the handgun back inside the holster on his belt and charged forward with the dagger, once again clashing with William’s sword as the force of the weapons connecting this time around shook the walls around them as the two held their ground, not wanting to give in as Joker tactically retreated and jumped up high in the air, attempting to swing down as Reed plunged his sword deep into the floor and sent up a light red barrier and sent Joker flying backwards.

“Not bad… not bad…” William was already panting as the power coursed through his veins. It would take a while for him to get used to it as Joker wanted to take advantage of this, throwing his hands forward as Arsene did the same.

“ **EIGA!** ”

The curse spell was casted and it shot forward in William’s direction, not giving him enough time to jump out of the way or block it as the red and black energy surrounded his body and started to slowly sap his energy. It caused a yell from Reed as he fell down to a knee, feeling Alfred retreat back into his body. At this point, he still pointed the sword forward and closed his eyes, nothing coming to mind until he felt a hand reach out in front of him. It was Joker himself, Reed not knowing what to do as he blankly stared at the red glove.

“Joker! The shadows are getting restless! We need to go!” Mona shouted from behind his leader and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, with Panther now back to her feet and holding her head as Skull took an arm to help her along the way. William saw what was happening behind the group and it wasn’t a pretty sight. A horde of shadows were approaching quickly and Reed took the hand, placing the sword into the back holster and running up and behind the group to the entrance of what they would know as Mementos.

* * *

 

It was more than just an awkward silence once the group reached the entrance to the public’s heart.

William stood off to the side and leaned back against a wall, seeing his phone was still in his pocket and pulling it out to check it once more. It was open on the navigation application as he would want nothing more than to get out of here and go to bed. There was something about this place and awakening to what he was told was a Persona. The outfit, the sword… it’s like it was straight out of a fantasy novel. It was a surprise for William when he looked up to see each thief looking directly at him and talking amongst themselves for a moment. He sighed and stood up fully, facing the humanoid looking cat that was perched on some sort of ledge.

“... um… as a team, we have decided to…” Mona started to speak and the blonde boy next to him took over, a club over his shoulder. “Say sorry, basically… yeah… what we did to you in order to get that power to wake up… that wasn’t like us at all and… shit…”

Skull ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the top and scratching it as Panther now was the one to step forward, twirling one of her twin tails around her pink gloved fingers and standing with one leg slightly crossed behind the other. “What Skull said… I feel awful for my part in it… but it was the only way... ! We’re… we’re sorry!”

All through this, William was confused if anything. The sudden shift in the group’s attitudes left him dumbfounded, however, he could tell that they were genuine. The body language, facial expressions and constant pauses indicated that two members of the group were telling the truth. William felt like he had to be mad, they had just beaten and tortured him! He went to speak before the boy he had clashed with in battle decided to finally speak up.

“You deserve to hear the truth, and from me in particular, I’m sorry for what happened. I just hope that you can forgive us so we can explain what this place is and what exactly took place… yeah, ha…” Joker tried to lighten things up at the end of his sentence, which Mona saw as peculiar for his Metaverse counterpart. “I’d like to introduce ourselves to begin with. My name is Joker… then on the ledge there is Mona, he’s our navigator. Then along the line, that’s Skull.”

Skull threw up a wave; a smile included as Mona kept his arms crossed and nodded at Joker’s call. “And finally, this is Panther.” He pointed across to the girl, who threw up two fingers in a ‘v’ sign, managing a smile also. William looked around at each member of the group and still had his doubts, especially with Joker and Mona, but he was willing to listen out.

“Are those nicknames you came up with? Heh, you can use your real names, you know?” the detective said in response, now turning his attention to the outfit he was wearing and picking bits of torn fabric off. “There’s this as well… I don’t even know how I ended up wearing all this. Not gonna lie, but I’m getting a real Sherlock Holmes vibe…”

“We’ll explain everything, just make sure to listen up.” Joker shoved his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat.

“The world you're standing in right now is known as the Metaverse. A cognitive version of reality that stems from the distorted desires of those who reside within the real world.” Mona was the one to speak up, leaving Joker to just leave the ‘master’ of the Metaverse to it all as Reed intently listened, taking in all the information as if it were a lecture. “The application you showed our leader earlier is the key to gaining access to this world and with it, we intend to change society for the better.”

_For the better… maybe they did have good intentions._

“Officially, we’re known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, or the Phantom Thieves for short. As I just mentioned, our mission objective is to use the Metaverse to change corrupt hearts in order for society to progress. To do this, we each awakened to the power known as Persona. Our Persona, the outfits we wear and our masks all stems from the rebellious will within us. This is how we envision a rebel would look like.”

He nodded with each statement. This was… intriguing. It truly was.

“You’re… different when it comes to that part. My suspicions were confirmed when you summoned your Persona with the use of a sword… because quite frankly, even I am puzzled when it comes to that. I sense a rebel within you, sir. There’s something overpowering it and if I were to make a guess…”

“... I’d say it’s a warrior’s will. From the sword, the outfit and no need for a mask, what you are standing in right now resembles what you’d think of as a warrior or somebody inspirational.”

William looked at his detective-esque outfit as well as the bottom half, as clearly the trousers and boots he wore had to have been made out some sort of armour, because not only did the boots shine, it all felt slightly heavier than a simple pair of jeans. The fabric holding his coat together also seemed pretty sturdy, despite the dagger from Joker tearing straight through it.

“A warrior… christ, I feel like a kid again and this is the dream where I’m the hero… ha…” William did indeed look up to Sherlock Holmes, but as a warrior? That was new to him. Sherlock was never to type to fight at all. “And then again, here I am talking to a damn cat.”

**“I’M NOT A CAT!”**

Mona shouted as Skull walked over to William, making sure that only the detective would hear him. “Don’t worry about him, dude. I do it all the time.”

William was glad that the thieves were friendly at least joking around with him now, it felt a breath of fresh air to being around Robbie and Alexander for two years and nobody else. He turned to Joker as Mona seemed to stop with his tangent, the leader of the group being more than happy to explain the rest of the situation as he reached up to take the white mask on his face off.

“It’s better to get this out of the way as well.” Joker pushed the mask up onto his forehead, revealing what William already knew. It was the apparent criminal student known as Ren Amamiya. Without the mask, his expression seemed completely different. There was still a tint of the cold phantom thief and slowly but surely, Skull and Panther pushed their masks up to reveal Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki.

“If you want to know about Shujin Academy, then tell us what you already know and we can fill in the blanks.” Ren buried his hands in his trench coat pockets again, staring up and at William, who just sighed in response. “And an explanation on why you’ve been stalking us in particular would be reeeeeeal nice.” Ann said, getting closer to Joker and unknowingly laying an arm on his shoulder to lean against him.

It was subtle, but she hoped he was getting some sort of hint.

“... I mean… the investigation is supposed to be private. My higher ups might…” William stopped himself when mentioning some form of upper authority to him, he told the thieves that he was a personal detective, he worked for himself and that was that. And even then, MI5 had absolutely no involvement in the investigation of Shujin Academy. “... alright! Maybe you can tell about this one glaring factor…”

“I started looking into your school after a news report on Suguru Kamoshida. They mentioned his sudden shift in behaviour, the apparent ‘prank’ of several ‘calling cards’ going up and around the school, as well as the fact that it was signed by people who called themselves… wait! That must have been…!”

“It was us. We changed the heart of that vile and disgusting man.” Mona spoke up and jumped down from the ledge. “It was our first official heist as a team and something that hit us all rather personally, especially Ryuji and Lady Ann. The things Kamoshida did to them were horrible!”

“Damn… you guys did that entire place a favour from what I saw, they described the crimes he admitted to and got some of the students to give their accounts. You must have used this world, correct?”

Joker nodded.

“How did it all work…? That’s the main thing I wanted to know.” William looked at Ryuji and Ann, who seemed to have a chill sent down their skin with the mention of Kamoshida’s name. Again, the body language gave that away and he knew that pressuring them on what he did wouldn’t do anyone any favours.

“We steal what’s called a treasure.” Ryuji said, adding his contributions to the discussion. “With Kamoshida, it was some sort of medal he had won whilst competing in the olympics. It’s basically something they hold dear to them.”

“I see…”

…

An awkward silence of sorts fills the room as William walks over towards the group, proceeding to stop leaning against the wall and make himself seem more presentable as he extends his hand out to Ren in the center. At this point, Ann had made her way just to the side of him and remained close, giving him some space as Ren shook the detective’s hand. The two may have been at each other’s throats many minutes ago, however they seemed to be on a respect basis now. William went around and high-fived Ryuji and shook Ann’s hands too, giving Mona a pat on the head.

“Leader, should we ask him if he wants to join the group?” Mona suggested, causing William to come to a stop as he was looking to head back out into the open. “He’s got what it takes and it could help us in terms of our next heist.”

William paused for a moment before fully turning around, facing the group once more. “I’m sorry guys… it’s a no from me. I have this power and the ability to come here, however I just don’t think I’ll be able to fit the time in. This experience was… fun, definitely. I’ll remember it for a long time…”

Ren could sense that William wasn’t being all that honest and thought to himself why he would turn the group down. In his own beliefs, there wasn’t anything Ren would do to force him to join and as they were technically considered as acquaintances, so they wouldn’t have to worry about their identities getting out there. He wanted to make extra precautions though.

“We’ve shown our identities to you now, but I’m sure you know as a detective that certain pieces of information should stay private. That includes our names.” Ren brushed a hand through his hair and grabbed the mask, pulling it back down over his eyes and becoming Joker once more as he already saw Skull and Mona heading back towards the entrance of Mementos.

“A detective’s honour,” William shot a salute at Joker. “Now, tell me how you get out of here and I’ll be on my way.”

…

…

_I gotta say, today was a good day._

* * *

 

“You were intentionally vague when discussing Kamoshida and even some details before then, I guess we still can’t trust him even after revealing our identities, huh?” Panther had placed the red mask back over her face, leaving just her and Joker as Skull and Mona were long gone down the stairwell that led them to the start of the first path. They had watched William had back up the steps after telling him how the nav application worked to get them out of the Metaverse. He had presumably gone on his way as Joker re-adjusted the red glove on his right hand, noticing a cut and a mark underneath, clearly from the fight that took place earlier.

“Partly. He definitely has good intentions with his role and that power makes him an ally… but if we’re to continue these operations then it’d be much better if the police or whoever he answers to weren’t on our trail,” He brushed another hand up through his frizzy hair and cracked his neck, walking towards the entrance as Panther followed alongside him, making sure to stay close. “And well…”

“Hmm?” she tilted her head as Joker continued walking and talking, making sure his outfit was dusted down in preparation to resume training.

“... I didn’t want him to give him any information on how Kamoshida affected you guys, especially you.”

There it was again. Joker looking out for others more than himself and it was one of the many qualities that had drawn Panther in his direction, the unfortunate thing was that she didn’t know how to express those into feelings and tell those to his face.

“And even then, Mona told me that we shouldn’t go too in depth about this place, shadows or even how to access somebody’s palace. We would only tell him the important details if he agreed to join.” Joker talked like a natural born leader, something that Panther also admired about him. “... anyone with that power could be considered dangerous if they aren’t on our side and well, he’s bad when it comes to fighting. Like, really bad, but keep in mind he just awakened and even I had trouble keeping up.”

“Mhm… you always do your best though, right?” Panther said, smiling and laying a hand on his shoulder as Joker appreciated the gesture, nodding slowly with a smile of his own.

“Heh… I mean, I have to put my best foot forward as a leader.” he returned back and both of them stepped forward towards the stairwell, with Skull and Mona clearly discussing something loudly at the bottom as Joker himself remembered the task at hand.

“They’re waiting for us,” Joker spoke once more. “Come on, let’s get back to training.”

His tone still wasn’t the usual one he used whilst under the mask of Joker, it wasn’t cold or emotionless, the one that struck fear into the hearts of shadows, but a more soft and caring one that only Ren Amamiya would hold. Perhaps it was the small things, perhaps she was looking a bit too much into everything, but hey, Panther enjoyed listening to his voice.

“Let’s.”

* * *

**Apartment 035**

**17/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

He was absolutely out of it.

William had returned back home after using his phone to escape the Metaverse and get back to reality. The first thing he noticed was the actual presence of people that weren’t who he came to know as the Phantom Thieves after their meeting in the dark depths of the cognitive world. In an instant, the first thing William did as he closed the door was to pull out his mobile phone and tap on the navigation app, it loading up multiple options in a menu which was new to him. His head hurt just looking at the red and black colours of the application, but the first menu option stood out to him at the top.

 

**MEMENTOS**

 

“... no, no… I shouldn’t touch anything for now. I’m fuckin’ knackered.” William slumped into the apartment and found himself vaulting over the nearest sofa, his phone falling from his grasp and dropping from the small height to the floor. Nothing was cracked, however the sound of his voice and the phone hitting the floor was enough to get the attention of Alexander from the room just to the right of the main living room. He shook his hair about and examined what was going on, seeing the leader of the team sprawled out over the sofa, his shirt neary falling off and the tie left hanging over William’s right shoulder.

“I say… are you alright, Will? What the hell did you get yourself involved in?” Alexander walked over to see Reed rubbing his eyes, pinching the top of his forehead and letting out a deep breath. “It doesn’t look pretty.”

“Dude… it’s fine… some uh… thugs were trying’ to have their way with somebody and y’know, I had to do the reasonable thing and…” His head fell back and connected against the edge of the sofa, making William groan out loud and fully throw his loose tie across the room and to the second sofa. “... just, let me rest… I have an update on my current case for Shujin Academy also…”

Alexander simply let out a sigh before choosing to respond, walking over to collect the red tie that William had discarded and placing it one of the tables in the connected kitchen as opposed to leaving it out on the sofa. “At least choose to clean up for yourself… jeez, I can’t be the single person in this building to care about how presentable it is…”

“Leave it off, the only people who visit are either Florence, Adam, Bethany, Victoria or some twat from the higher ups…” William spoke in a much lower voice, his hands resting behind his head and his feet on the other armrest. “... and even they don’t seem to care about us now.”

“I’m sure whatever they’re doing, it’s more important than their youngest members taking a holiday in Japan. We should give them the benefit of the doubt.” Alexander was always cool headed when it came to situations like this, however, no matter how much he adjusted the tone of his voice, William noticed he always sided with the higher ups and quite frankly it was getting annoying quickly.

“This isn’t a holiday, you spanner, we’re out here doing work as much as they are. And considering you’re the ‘number one’ agent, you really don’t have any room to be… fuck…” a yawn interrupted what William was saying, holding a hand to his head as Alexander was already walking away.

“Then you should be putting in more work... oh, and Robbie is out at the moment. He’s investigating a bar up in Shinjuku.“ the blonde walked back to his own personal room and shut the door, chuckling at the end of the sentence as William just simply pulled his hair with both of his hands, yawning once more as he couldn’t help but reach for his mobile phone again. He went back onto the navigation app and scrolled past the Mementos option on the menu, selecting the next option as he was given an option to enter a name.

“... a name huh, might nab a random one to see if this shit is legit…”

In an instant, it was like the fatigue had simply disappeared as he shot up from the sofa and stood up. The young agent cracked his neck before walking over across the apartment to a corridor that led down to both his and Robbie’s room. He looked around before heading towards the door of his closest colleague and realising that it was unlocked… I mean, he wasn’t complaining and it made the job a lot easier.

Robbie’s room was a mess. William didn’t bother to look at anything apart from the desk at the corner of the room with multiple files layed out over them. He walked over and grabbed the first envelope that was barely hanging on from the wooden desk. The slip keeping the information inside withheld was easily undone, with William pulling out the information card that was printed. He found a picture and most importantly a name. What he would do with it, he hoped could be the weirdest and most creative way to work as a member of the law.

* * *

**Shibuya**

**17/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

It was a very successful training session down in Mementos, especially from the perspective of Ryuji as the group had all exited on high spirits despite the interruption and shock factor from the fateful detective’s awakening. There wasn’t much of a talk afterwards apart from everybody agreeing on the same sort of session to take place the following day after some rest. Ren and Ann walked off in one direction whilst Ryuji had received a text from his mother that he was needed back at home to take care of the house for the night. He wasn’t afraid to admit that he was a true mother’s boy after the situation involving his father. She was the only family that Ryuji had left and…

**_Shit!_ **

His thought process was interrupted as he just so happened to bump into somebody. Ryuji knew that he was at fault and noticed that whoever was in front of him had dropped multiple books and even a folder. It was on instinct that he should help out and apologise; a sense of his maturity starting to further come through.

“Sorry, man… here, let me just…” he started before Ryuji looked up to get a better view at who exactly it was and to his surprise, Ryuji was looking at another student of Shujin Academy. Her appearance though, it felt familiar to him, a bit too familiar and not in the good way. “... wait, is that you Ms. Prez?”

Makoto Niijima was too focused with the thoughts in her own mind to see who and what was in front of her, colliding with another student of Shujin Academy as the books and folder in her hand spilled onto the floor of the station square. She went down to help the male student that was already assisting her in retrieving the school supplies. That’s when she got a shock to who it was, hearing that tone and expression in his voice. “Sakamoto-kun, what a… surprise to run into you… I-I’m sorry about that…”

“Nah, nah. Don’t sweat it! I didn’t really look where I was going.” Ryuji was upbeat from the incident and picked up one last book, turning it over to reveal it to be on Law. He handed the book out to the brunette, who had to wait a second before taking it and placing it into her bag for a change. Makoto was slightly stunned still, this was the resident troublemaker of Shujin Academy and somebody who she suspected to be one of those ‘phantom thieves’, which she still suspected to be some form of prank.

 _Yet, he was… nice?_ Was that the word to describe Ryuji Sakamoto in this situation?

“You okay, Niijima-senpai?” Ryuji tilted his head and saw that Makoto wasn’t moving much, simply looking across and straight at his face. The voice of Ryuji shook Makoto out of her daze as the straight face didn’t change, and her body language became slightly more reserved. “Yes. I’m fine. I suppose that you too are fine?”

“Uh huh, just… y’know, hanging around…” Ryuji scratched the back of his head as Makoto seemed to look him up and down, seeing his scruffed clothes and sweat dripping down his forehead. It looked like he had been up to no good and what was Makoto to expect from him?

“You’re sweating profusely, Sakamoto-kun. Are you sure that you’re feeling well?” Makoto said and shifted some more of her supplies into the school bag, keeping the blue folder out in front of her arms as she looked up to see Ryuji slightly smile and wipe his forehead with his right arm. “Am I? Haha… shit, I guess I am! A good ol’ session at the gym will do that to you!”

Makoto didn’t say anything in response to that and went to walk away when she remembered the upcoming date on the 20th, that being the day when the latest exam results were set to be put up for all to see. It was her priority to make sure students such as Ryuji were up to par in their studies.

“Oh, and before we part, I do hope that your studies have been going well. As the student council president, it’s my duty to help you out where necessary.” she started before Ryuji started rufflign through those blonde locks once more, chuckling nervously to himself as the mention of studying, by the student council president no less, made him a little bit shaky… or maybe that was just the effect of coming out of Mementos.

“I mean… I’ve been trying my best…! That’s all that matters at the end of the day, yeah? And oh, my mom is gonna be mad if I’m not home within the next like… uh… ten minutes. Anyway, catch you around!” Ryuji hastily scrambled together an excuse to get him away from the conversation of school and due to the fact that with their previous confrontations involving Ren and Ann, it was getting a little bit awkward. He broke into a small jog and wiped some sweat with the sleeve of his blazer.

_I need to ask Ren how the hell he can talk to girls so damn easily…!_

Makoto watched as the blonde escaped away and out of view, pulling out her phone and looking at the same list she had created for the investigation into the ‘calling card’ posted up and around the boards of Shujin. At the top was his name, Ryuji Sakamoto. Then the other two names beneath him, Ren Amamiya and Ann Takamaki, didn’t look to change. Makoto pressed the ‘Edit’ option on the notes app, hovering over the red mark to delete the entry for Ryuji…

… _no_ , her gut said to keep him on. Why was she having these doubts?

It didn’t help that she noticed that Ryuji was redder than a tomato all throughout their conversation. Makoto really wondered if she had that effect on people. She thought back to just a moment ago with Ryuji needed to hurry home because of his mother and that reminded her that Sae, her sister, would also be waiting for her. The honour student hadn’t gotten any sort of text to remind her that Sae would be out and hurried on her way home.

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**18/05/16**

* * *

**“Our patience is running slim, Sadayo!”**

A hand from behind the desk slammed down in front of her as she looked up to face the couple standing behind Principal Kobayakawa. The latter was truly revelling in all of this and her suspicions were confirmed; that man was corrupt and completely disregarded the system in order to benefit himself and others that so happened to be within his school. She knew that Shujin Academy would one day stand as the most reputable and high ranking school if this continued behind closed doors and that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be with Kobayakawa in charge. He had run mad with power and Sadayo was powerless to even try and fight. The strings on her arms kept pulling her up and away from that one moment… that one moment she could finally break free…

… then it was them.

The relatives of Taiiki Takase, the boy that she once tutored.

Sadayo only blamed herself when it came to the crash that ended Taiiki’s life, the phone call and the distress in his voice that she could hear to this day. He was working more than three part-time jobs whilst trying to double down on his studies. Yet, these high ranking relatives of his only cared about embezzling money out of Kawakami because of the accident. Mr. Takase was a wealthy businessman who was in charge of overseeing several stores in the Shibuya area, mainly that of a maid cafe that Sadayo had been forced into working out as well as in his other branch of Victoria Housekeeping. Mrs. Takase wasn’t too far behind her husband when it came to manipulating and controlling businesses, however she wasn’t as much of a prominent figure than Mr. Takase, although she was more vicious, cold and unforgiving.

Playing the victim was only the start of things.

They shouted… and shouted… and shouted… whilst she just sat there and took the verbal abuse like it was a normal occurrence. For every student she had placed under this curse, under the weight of these horrible adults trying to only increase their own stature. And through all this? The principal smiled and laughed, even saying that he took great pleasure in watching the misfortune of others.

“... just think of the students! I can’t… I-I can’t pay you! Please, let m-me…!” Kawakami’s words were scrambled as she stood up and threw everything she had left at the trio, only to turn around and see a cold stare from Mr. Takase as she reached forward and gripped his collar out of nowhere. It was a sudden move as the sleep deprived Kawakami didn;t have a chance to say anything before she was slapped across the face from Mrs. Takase, leaving a red mark on her face as she just looked up at them once more.

She just wanted to save herself.

…

… but that was nearly impossible in this cold, cold world.

…

**The key word: nearly.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting this one out quite late, and I've been really occupied recently with school work so this chapter took some time to get out, however I hope that it's worth it and the next chapter should hopefully come this weekend. Another quick note is that I'm thinking of expanding out to other smaller fan-fics to do in my spare time than stay solely focused on the Liberation series.
> 
> And ShuAnn week? God bless all you wonderful writers out there. In a perfect world, the confession would have taken place this chapter... but trust me, you won't have to wait long now!


	9. Thug Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William Reed has decided to take justice into his own hands and explores Mementos for the first time alone, realising that his powers come with a massive learning curve, that of which he believes has a simple solution. With the impending heist on the horizon, the Phantom Thieves learn some shocking news that might derail the calling card process, but some unlikely assistance may just save them from delaying the heist. And is love in the air? A certain artist seems to think so for two of our thieves.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**19/05/16**

* * *

 

It was the second time he had gazed upon the depths of this distorted train station, that of which he had come to know as Mementos. The twenty-year old part-detective and part-secret agent found himself back in the outfit he had gained once awakening to the power of a Persona. William was still confused by how everything worked and even through his brief conversation and fight with the Phantom Thieves, there was still a lot to wrap his head around. He had previously experimented with entering names into the Meta-Nav application on his phone and they had all directed him towards Mementos. What did it all mean though? Were these people going to show up in Mementos?

Times like these wished that his usual instinct of asking too many questions came alive at the right moment. William just wanted to know how this place worked. There was something about a treasure, something about cognition and something about changing hearts. He wanted to hand out justice in this unique way of changing a heart. The statement intrigued him.

“A test… never forget that is just a test run of this power…” William spoke to nobody and headed down to the area that he and Joker briefly fought in. It could have been his demise, and then well… THAT happened. And it would be that exact thing that William was currently looking to search out from deep within his body.

“The name… the name… the name… the name....” it kept repeating in his head and eventually translated to words out of his mouth. William closed his eyes and took a step forward to the edge, overlooking the train tracks that were still present in this distorted mess. Within an instant, his pupils flashed a bright yellow. Around the young man’s feet spawned a blue arcana circle and with it, down came a blue tarot card that spun around until it stopped just above the outstretched right hand of the slicked back agent.

…

…

**“PERSONA!”**

…

The fingers came forward and the hand closed, crushing the tarot card as William reached for the sword that had been created from the energy of the distorted reality. His eyes returned to normal colour as the inner power from within manifested into the Holy Knight of Strength, Alfred. William looked up and around him, staring up at what he had just done and marvelling every detail.

“Yo… haha…! It really wasn’t some wild acid trip… this shit is as real as it gets!” William smiled and broke out into a jog, the Persona hovering as he went with the force of such a being making the gel in William’s hair stop sticking. The top of his head represented a windmill as he kept running forward along the train track, trying to get a feeling for having such a power behind him at all times.

The disbelief and awe came to a sudden halt as William found himself looking up at a creature towering over him. He let out a slight yell and quickly backed up, watching as it split open and formed a black and red ooze before assembling once more into the shadow known as Silme. He didn’t know what to make of this, and the creature slightly weirded him out. It was at least worth a try to make some use of this Persona.

“It ain’t the prettiest thing I’ve layed my eyes on… but we don’t discriminate around here…! Time to…” William’s confidence boosting shouts were stopped abruptly as the shadow slowly started to approach him and then the young lad knew where he was and the absolute bizarreness of the situation.

Without thinking, William pulled the blade out in front of him and charged forward to swing it down onto the shadow and made a deep incision right down into the body. The Slime quickly recovered and assembled its body back up, however the sword had caused some major damage. It knew what it had to do and the self-destruction sequence had started, causing panic to set amongst the individual it was fighting. “Ah, come on! Don’t blow up on me!”

“Hey!” he shouted up towards Alfred, who looked down at William with his own larger sword over its shoulder. “Fancy saving my bacon, uh… bud?”

William once again felt his arms were controlling themselves and his mind was telling the lad to do one thing and one thing only. He lifted the sword high above his head and plunged it deep into the ground of Mementos, surprisingly sending the tip through and a bright blue energy to form underneath. It zig-zagged across the ground and burst upwards, completely obliterated the shadow and making it disappear in an instant as William pulled the sword out to hold it down at his side.

“I could get used to this, heh.”

Right before William could start moving forward along the vast space of Mementos, he’s interrupted by a loud groan coming from in front of him. It wasn’t the shadow he took out and instead an entirely new one… followed by two other shadows. The trio of monsters took Reed by surprise as his hot headed nature told him to rush forward. Meanwhile, everywhere else in his body was telling him to retreat and not mess with the monsters he still didn’t understand. It didn’t make things better that he was by himself and clearly at a disadvantage when it came to numbers.

“...”

**“... fuck it.”**

His body just decided to become its own being and threw William’s arms upwards as the monsters dissolved down into the ooze, springing up and forming two Slimes and a Kodama. The tip of the gold tinted sword blazed up again and shout out a blue lightning bolt into the sky, it travelling through the air and crashing down one of the shadows to immediately render it useless and out of action.

“That’s how we do it! Keep going, Alfred!” William was full of confidence as he shouted towards the two remaining shadows, one Slime and one Kodama. He didn’t know the names, but knew they needed to be on the floor and dead. The young adult rushed forward and felt a new stream of adrenaline; his feet carrying him across the train tracks of the first floor of Mementos. “Attack…!”

He jumped into the air and used both hands to swing the sword down, unfortunately, the sheer pressure of such an action let the weapon go and it crashed down into the tracks. William also fell out of the air himself, his leg coming down hard as he cursed into the ground and made sure to pick up his sword whilst the shadows were approaching and others weren’t too far behind from where he was looking. Alfred’s masked face even yielded disappointment, even if William still knew almost nothing about the other world.

“Shit… I gotta get the hell out of here…” William spoke out as he got up to his feet from a knee, turning around on his heel and running back towards the entrance. “Alfred! Do something!”

Without warning, the sword left the grasp of Reed’s hands and swung back around behind him. He didn’t even remember throwing it and just let it down to his Persona doing the work for him. The blade spun around in constant circles and cut through the two main shadows that had been trailing him for a short amount of time, not rendering them out, but stunned enough for William to get some good distance on the creatures. Just like a boomerang, he felt the sword return right back to his left hand and lifted it up to place it in the pre-made holster.

All this time, he was having a conversation in his head.

_“This is the best thrill I have gotten ever since I stopped smoking the devil’s lettuce… and I don’t wanna get back into that. You know what, Will? Yeah, let’s keep coming back here. Let’s keep trying to figure out what the hell this place is. I could ask those three students some more questions. Can’t exactly keep bugging them after the chick pointed out how I was a stalker… but fuck it… actually… nah.”_

He reached the entrance and pulled himself up onto the platform, placing a hand to his chest and closing his eyes, letting the Persona float back into his body and heart. With one look back, William saw the shadows all walk away and patrol the dark depths of Mementos.

“I gotta remember that I’m a single person fighting hordes upon hordes of these things. If I had others by my side, a team even, then we could go that much further into this place…”

… he then remembered why the hell he had spent two years in Japan.

“... fuckin’ **bingo**.”

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**19/05/16**

**After-School**

* * *

 

The last day and even this day had gone by incredibly quickly for the frizzy haired ‘criminal’ they called Ren. The Phantom Thieves’ second trip to Mementos had gone as swimmingly as their first initial training session and all four members had felt their experience wielding a Persona and their weapons inside the Metaverse went up exponentially. They’d made sure to keep themselves on track with the small requests coming through on the Phan-Site through students at the school and other civilians that believed in this craze, either through hearing about it from friends or mutuals. Ryuji believed that the Phantom Thieves would one day be worldwide sensations and those who commanded justice itself… an idea that everybody disagreed with, Ren himself saying that some heroes are just better working in the shadows.

To reveal their identities to anybody that any individual member trusted or they knew to have the exact same power as them was risk, hell, the latter option was also risky in case of dissolution and the impact of an enemy being able to wield a Persona. That all changed when William Reed made his way into the Metaverse and confronted the group, being forced by Morgana in particular to have his powers drawn out. Those of which were extremely unexpected and the item of a sword replaced the typical mask. Morgana knew nothing of the sorts and therefore, William was left in complete mystery on how he operated along with his powers. They had his word and honour though and to Ren, he truly felt that William meant no harm, especially as a simple private detective. It wasn’t like the Phantom Thieves had been recognised throughout the country or even partly out of Shujin Academy. They were safe and as long as William’s trust and friendship wasn’t to be broken, everything could progress as Morgana said it should.

With only a day remaining until the heist to steal the heart of Shujin Academy’s trapped teacher, Sadayo Kawakami. Today was a day for each member to relax and not tire themselves out from another day in the Metaverse, Mementos to be specific.

It was also a day that Ren could relax from having somebody on his trail all the time, with William Reed now taken care of. The detective wasn’t the only person who had their eyes on Ren through the past few days. That other person was Ann Takamaki, Ren’s only real female friend.

Ann told herself that there was no point hiding anything anymore. She had a crush on the leader of the Phantom Thieves. That much was apparent from the day she saw him underneath the canopy in the rain, picking a cherry blossom from his hair and soon getting to know him through the escapades with the Phantom Thieves, sitting in front of him in class, and even just getting to know Ren by hanging around the city with him. Ren was cool, calm, compassionate and sweet, always putting other people’s needs above his own, somehow always so chill for whatever came his way.

Love at first sight existed… in her mind at least. It was what drew her to Ren.

They had known each other for just over a **month** though! That was one of the factors stopping her from asking the big question, others included nerves, emotions, a potential rejection, and would it affect their ventures as phantom thieves. Another issue that emerged was what it would be like around Shujin. The student marked as a criminal dating the student known for fooling around with a teacher and given all kinds of horrible labels. That wouldn’t stop her though, the only person who could do that was…

“Hey, you alright? You seem deep in thought, as usual.” Ren said, standing next to the blonde as she blinked and shook her head around, putting a quick smile on her face. “It feels good to have a day to relax. Don’t you think?”

They were standing on the rooftop of Shujin Academy, the first hideout of the group when they started targeting Kamoshida. It was becoming more and more suspicious every day seeing the ‘criminal, the renowned troublemaker and the ‘bitch’ of Shujin all hanging out in such a secluded location. They switched to a more open location, even that carried many risks.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah… it’s always nice to hang around with you when we’re not running around the Metaverse,” Ann leaned against the rail and looked outwards to the still bright and clouded sky. “... makes a change from what life was like before you arrived, huh?”

“I wouldn’t know. How was life in Shujin before April?” Ren asked, also choosing to lean against the railing as he looked over to see Morgana perched on a table doing the same thing.

“Nothing special… for me. I suppose you’d have to ask Ryuji for his perspective, but I know that he wasn’t the most popular. Even I didn’t choose to bother with him. The only friend I had was Shiho and all the time, there was a shadow looming over my shoulder in the form of that perv.” Ann spoke in a monotone voice, clearly Ren could tell that re-accounting the bad memories weren’t pleasing her. He wanted to switch the conversation up and saw the right topic.

“Speaking of Shiho… how is she? I’m sure that seeing her best friend has helped to raise her spirits during the recovery process.” Ren didn’t choose to mince his words and looked over at Ann once more, hands folded together as she let out a deep breath and smiled.

“She’s good, great even… because the doctors are surprised on how everything is healing up. Talking to Shiho is as good as it was back before you arrived. In a way… we’ve become closer due to this incident. And I have to thank you, Ryuji and Morgana for helping us. Sure, I’d do anything in the world to avoid what actually happened…” she paused for a moment and looked away, right at the same spot where the incident happened.

“... I know, Ann. We all felt the same as you. I’m just… sorry, still.” Ren sounded regretful as he noticed the sadness that had transpired over Ann’s face. “He’s gone now, that’s the most important thing. You’re safe, Ryuji is safe. My name is still a curse among some of the students… but at least it’s sorta subsided.”

“I hate that,” she suddenly spoke out, in quite an aggressive tone as well. Ren turned to her and leaned further across, getting a good view of the Shibuya area. “Not that we’re safe, but the fact that some of these people only see you as a criminal. Too bad that I’m one of the only people who sees the real Ren Amamiya for who he is…”

_And damn, do I love it._

“Haha... it’s nothing, Ann, really. Thank you, though. You’re a great friend to have.”

She continued to look out towards the distance as another slight silence filled the rooftop until a meow from Morgana alerted both students to his presence. Morgana strutted over to sit in the middle of the two. “Sorry to interrupt you two… but are we making sure that everything is ready for tomorrow?”

“Of course, Morgana… there’s just something I feel that we’re missing… “ Ann started as Ren came in to clear things up, as any leader would. “... the calling card. My only question is how we’ll get it to Kawakami by tomorrow.”

“Well, like, couldn’t we just repeat what we did when taking care of Kamoshida?” Ann questioned, letting her arms fall as she walked backwards to fully face Ren. “Y’know… putting the same calling card up and around the school…”

Ren seemed to think for a few seconds before shaking his head and looking down at Morgana, who looked fairly confused before leaping up onto another table to face the pair. “Why the shake, leader? It worked perfectly for making our last treasure appear!” the feline spoke, with Ren’s expression remaining unchanged.

“Did you not hear the news? Kawakami, she’s…” the boy stopped for a moment and looked around in time to see that the double door to the rooftop was opening up. Ryuji walked outwards, his bag slung over his shoulder and a spring in his step, jogging over to the group and looking fairly concerned.

“Dude! Mishima just told me that…” Ryuji blurted out and was stopped as Ren spoke up once more. “She’s apparently suspended, yeah, I know.” Ren followed up with and looked back towards his team, hands placed firmly in his pockets. “We weren’t told anything in homeroom. The substitute teacher was already a suspicion sign and then Ms. Chonou pulls me aside to tell my class that Kawakami isn’t going to be in for the rest of the month. Her performance is being reviewed by Principal Kobayakawa... “

“... there’s just gotta be more to this than I know.”

Ryuji didn’t say anything apart from throw his bag down onto the table Morgana was sitting atop, making the cat jump off and onto a seperate table as everyone looked over to see Ryuji pull out a notepad. He happily flips a few pages over to get to a heavily drawn on section, revealing multiple logo options for the Phantom Thieves, aka. the logo that will be drawn on the calling card. “Eh, it’s nothing much… but I thought I’d get everybody’s opinions on these.”

“Hmm… I can see where and what you’ve tried to do here. It’s just... “ Ren placed a hand to his chin and looked down, hovering his finger over a few of the designs one by one, most of them containing that signature grin that was seen with the first logo. A top hat also accompanied most of the logos. Ann scratched her head as she was half blown away that Ryuji could go the distance with this work, and also half disappointed that Ryuji couldn’t draw at all.

“... I think I’m feeling the first one we used, how about we stick with that one?” Ren placed his hands back in his pockets as Ryuji sighed before turning the notepad over, revealing another page with the base of the calling card sticking out in between the pages. He smirked and held up the red card to show the same logo, just slightly more coloured and shaded in to give it an extra kick. “Yeah, yeah… I ain’t good at art. It makes me wish we could hire an artist to draw us a logo and make merch! Imagine that!”

Ryuji was still as happy as ever, first placing the notepad away back into his bag and waving the base of the calling card around. Nothing was written on the back and only the logo was present. They would’ve needed to make a lot more of them in order to carry out the same tactic as the group did with Suguru Kamoshida, however with the recent development… that would need to be changed.

* * *

 

**EARLIER…**

Ryuji was really thinking to himself about the earlier events this month and especially throughout the past week. He walked the corridors of Shujin Academy after putting his phone away, responding to a text message to the Phantom Thieves group chat, informing him to meet everybody on the rooftop. It was their old hideout after all, so some good and bad memories of taking down Kamoshida were floating through the head of Ryuji. He really thought to himself about the heist tomorrow, and how the whole situation started.

“Thinkin’ back to that shit… I’m no better than him…” Ryuji mumbled as he stared at the students walking past him, not giving him any attention after the reputation he had built up. Kamoshida didn’t too much to change that and neither did any of the teachers. He was the permanent troublemaker of Shujin Academy; the group he hung around with also had their own labels. That’s what Ryuji liked though, because they were the Phantom Thieves and had the power to change people’s perspective on them and on their youth in general.

He felt like an idiot after presenting the Operation: Maidwatch idea to Ren and Mishima, then actually forcing Mishima to go along with him. _“I mean, at least we got a start from what I did… it still doesn’t change what the consequences could have been. Argh… it’s dumb, man, real dumb.”_

It was like the world changed around Ryuji to benefit what he was thinking of as a lone blue haired boy appeared at the end of the corridor, leaning against a wall with his near full bag slung over his left shoulder. Mishima noticed Ryuji and waved out to him, with the blonde rubbing the back of his neck before slumping his way over towards where Mishima was located. If this was the Ryuji Sakamoto before Ren had arrived, he wouldn’t have given any sort of attention to kids like Mishima, but here he is.

“Sakamoto-kun, i-it’s good to speak to you…” Mishima said, clearly troubled by something that Ryuji could already guess. It was the looming debt over their heads that would have to be paid off at the end of May. They had time and Ryuji knew this better than anyone. He planned for there to be no doubt due to what would happen the following day with the Phantom Thieves and the Metaverse. Mishima didn’t know this, appearing extremely under the weather and under pressure at the same time. “... it’s getting closer, r-right?”

“Mishima, man… I just wanna say something that I honestly thought I’d never say. Fuck… man, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. I’m sorry for making you worry about gathering all this money for Kawakami…” Ryuji softly spoke and looked away for a brief moment, trying to gather his thoughts. “... heh, I’ve never been this regretful since the day that dad left me and mom… j-just listen to me, Mishima.”

Ryuji was having trouble composing his sentences together as Mishima just looked confused and grateful at the same time, gripping his school bag tighter as he knew that both him and Ryuji were going through the same thing. It came as an unexpected surprise when Ryuji extended his fist out, his other hand deep in the trouser pocket. “Keep running the Phan-Site, keep believing… because this issue will be sorted out. A-alright? I’ll… I mean, we’ll… I mean, yeah!”

Remembering his issue with revealing his affiliations with the Phantom Thieves, Ryuji took a moment to try and recover. On the other hand, Mishima tried to make sense of Ryuji’s words. He at least was happy that somebody was paying him attention and telling him that everything was going to be okay. As Ryuji scratched his cheek ever so slightly, Mishima coughed and that turned Ryuji’s attention back towards the blue haired student.

“Are you s-sure? It’s not like I’d doubt you, Amamiya-kun and Takamaki-san… but… you guys have got this!” Mishima perked up as he stopped leaning and walked around Ryuji, looking down the hallway where some of the students were still positioned after classes had finished up. “And thank you for interacting with my Phan-Site… I-I just hope everybody continues to support the Phantom Thieves in what they do…”

Ryuji knew that Mishima had more knowledge than he initially expected, unaware if it was a slip-up by him or if the Kamoshida incident was enough evidence with the emergence of the group. He went to open his mouth until Mishima shouted out to him, already scurrying off and pulling out his phone.

“Thank you, Sakamoto-kun! I’ll speak to you tomorrow!” Mishima called out and headed off in the other direction, leaving a slightly surprised Ryuji scratching his head. The blonde took out his own phone and saw that he was already slightly late for meeting up on the rooftop, the others probably didn’t mind regardless.

And they didn’t.

* * *

**Shibuya**

**19/05/16**

**After-School**

* * *

 

Ren and Ann had split off from Ryuji heading into central street as the lad had some issues to take care of after school involving the old track team. The duo, with Morgana in tow, set off into the station square. They looked around at the very open hideout the group have been using for the past few days whilst taking care of Sadayo Kawakami’s Palace, seeing the usual hustle and bustle of people walk past without a care in the world for each other. Ann turned to Ren, seeing him constantly peer around as if he were looking for somebody.

“Hey… Ren, are you sure this will work? We still don’t know their motives…” Ann got slightly closer as more people pushed past, finding a slight platform to lean up against. “If Kawakami isn’t going to be at school, then we need to find exactly where she’s located. It’s our only chance of delivering the calling card on time without going on a wild goose chase.” the boy replied, crossing his arms and starting to walk through the crowd and through the giant space in the center of the square.

“Wait up! Ah!” Ann quickly dashed through to walk alongside him again, getting lost in her own thoughts for a second. “We may be perfectly fine with one of them… the others still don’t impress me, and they somehow knew your criminal record.”

“Which is exactly why we’re asking them for this favour… and I know that one of them will accept due to the deal we have.” Ren said quickly in response, looking over to see Ann fidgeting and looking fairly worried, letting out a sigh as well. “... you can trust me, right?”

“Y-yeah! I’m just… I can tell you anything, right?” Ann followed Ren into the shopping mall, as the crowd slightly dispersed, allowing for more movement as she decided to stretch her arms out and behind her head.

“Anything.”

“I had another photoshoot planned from my modelling agency just yesterday, actually right after we got out from Mementos. The same thing happened when you were there with me, because by the time I got there… yep, Mika was already posing. They told me that I wasn’t needed and it made me think of what we’ve all gone through…” Ann swayed from side to side, Ren observing as he let his head fall down before looking up to make sure he didn’t walk into anything.

It took a few seconds before he could muster up a reply. “You’ll prove yourself to be better than her one day. If Mika has to go through the trouble to making sure you don’t get these chances, then she’s envious of you.” Ren tried to crack a smile, forcing Ann to smile herself as she looked up to how nice that grin was. It carried the same quality as when Joker smiled in the Metaverse before executing a well thought out plan. “Um… do you mind if I admit something to you?”

Ann’s eyes widened for a moment, not noticing that she was blushing and Ren was looking directly at her. She shook her head, seeing Ren rub the back of his neck, looking fairly troubled himself. Again, Ann had a habit of thinking a bit too far ahead.

“... I’ve been having my own issues, with Sojiro. It just seems like he’s getting bitter with each day. The more I ask, the cycle just repeats itself. I know he’s my guardian and all, but a month in and I’d at least expect a bit more hospitality.” Ren hadn’t noticed that both him and Ann’s path had gotten more clearer as they walked past store after store, it was probably nothing, however it allowed him to think more clearly and not worry about bumping into anyone as he felt a hand touch his left shoulder.

“To repeat what you said, he’ll realise who you are one day. There’s still that label attached to your name, but you’ve pushed past it!” Ann said, bringing the two to a stop right in front of the flower store. Morgana popped his head out of Ren’s bag for a moment as Ann took a second to admire the flowers on display. “I’ll have to stop by Leblanc again so he can see how much of a good influence you’ve been on us!”

“Yeah.. yeah, that sounds good.” Ren was interrupted by Morgana, who was looking at who seemed like another student helping out around the flower shop. They looked to be around the same age as Ren, their red hair flicked back into a ponytail as she bowed to another customer who left with a bright bouquet of flowers. “Here’s an idea, leader. Have you ever considered taking up a part-time job? It makes for good experience and another way to earn some cash.”

“Hmm…” Ren was deep in thought as he saw Ann approach the store and start up a conversation with the student that was working alongside the owner. The two were clearly getting along as Morgana hid back inside the school bag and Ren walked forward, standing alongside Ann as she quickly noticed his presence.

“Oh! Hi, Ren! I was just taking a look at some of the beautiful flowers here.” Ann said, mainly looking towards many roses bundled up together, all different variants of red. “I’ve always loved roses… my mom did too.”

“Don’t worry, you can take your time,” Ren was softly spoken as he turned to face the red haired student, who took one look at him and smiled.

“Shujin Academy…?” the girl said, tilting her head to the side for a moment before continuing to smile in Ren’s direction. “I haven’t seen you around before, might you be new?”

So, this was a student of Shujin Academy. Ren was quite surprised that she didn’t immediately recognise his face as the infamous transfer student branded as a criminal. He still remembers being told that Kamoshida had leaked his criminal record, something that still followed him around to this day. The truth was better than nothing. If she judged him, that was her problem.

“I only transferred in April, my name is Ren Amamiya. I’m currently a second-year along with my friend, Ann.” he said as the girl seemed to process the name, realising something for a moment and the smile slightly faded away.

“... it’s a pleasure to meet you, Amamiya-kun. I’m Kasumi Yoshizawa, a first-year.” her smile now seemed forced as she turned her attention towards the still gandering Ann, who had picked out a few roses and was now talking with the owner. She turned away for a moment, something or someone clearly catching her attention as her body language indicated that she needed to be out of there and pronto. “H-hey! Can you just hold these for a second? I'll be right back!”

Ren sees her hand the small collection of roses back to the owner for a moment, bowing as she jogs past the boy and makes sure to whisper in his ear some important information. “Target spotted, come and help me out.” Ann was looking towards the end of a path in the mall, her eyes on two young adults who were conversing among each other and walking away. They were both recognisable, especially the brown haired male as they might have met him in quite the unusual location. As Ren saw the owner place the flowers on a side table, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

“Hey… do you mind if I pay for these? It’s the least I can do for her.” Ren rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, digging through the wallet for some yen and making sure to bow after taking the flowers in his hand and positioning them behind his back. Kasumi, who remembered being told about the ‘delinquent transfer student’ by many of her teachers and older students. To see him purchasing flowers for a girl nevertheless… he might not be who she had assumed him to be.

“Thank you very much.” Ren bowed himself, making sure to smile as he hurried off to where Ann had headed. Morgana popped his head back out of his school bag, clearly happy at the gesture that Ren had just carried out. “I have to admit, leader. You’re a true gentleman.”

“That might just be Arsene, haha... but um…” Ren started to speak, and Morgana couldn’t help but notice the small blush appearing on his face. “... yeah, she’s real nice…”

“Are you okay, Ren? You’re red in the face.” his feline friend asked, the duo approaching where Ann had run off to where she was talking to two men that William had met not too long ago. He decided to just nod at Morgana as they approached, making him go back down into the bag without any other words needing to be said.

“... yeah, I’m fine… **just fine** …”

Meanwhile, Ann had spotted the two detectives that they had the trouble of running into just the previous day and having more than an unnerving confrontation. William Reed and Robbie Allister were busy walking out and away from the shopping mall, having been sent out to fetch something for Alexander, who was at home practicing the piano as he normally would do. William was the first to notice the blonde jogging up towards him. He suddenly had a case of deja vu, remembering what had happened in the other world. The girl with the twin tails…

… the same girl who had gave him those whip marks on his back. It was… awkward to say the least, however their conversation afterwards that cleared things up had given William a reason to trust the three students, this girl being one of them who he knew as Takamaki-san, or Panther. He wondered what the hell she wanted, and how the hell he’d explain to Robbie why they’d suddenly get along like it was nothing.

“Hey….! Um… you’re Reed-san, right? The detective?” Ann stumbled over her words slightly, trying to keep her composure in front of the two young adults as Robbie now turned his attention to the pair, as well as an incoming Ren who had come to Ann’s side.

“Eh? Will, ain’t these two of the Shujin students we saw like three days back?” Robbie spoke with a vicious tone placed his hands behind his head, not bothering to notice that the top button of his white shirt was undone. He didn’t usually hold himself in high standards. “What do you want with us?”

“Just chill for a sec’, Rob.” William spoke in a much softer voice compared to when he blew out smoke in Ann’s face after their first conversation. “At least let ‘em speak.”

“Huh?! Didn’t you-”

“You wanted something, yeah?” Will had switched up his language to benefit the main targets he was speaking to now, scratching his head as his eyes took him over to Ren. The two shared a nod as their meeting in Mementos had now caught up to them. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

“Uh huh… first, um…” Ann started twirling strands of hair around her fingers, trying to think of how to explain their issue without giving anything away. Ren knew that he had to save Ann from further embarrassment, seeing she was biting her lip and going a bit red.

“Reed-san, it’s good to finally be on the same page.” Ren said, extending his free hand out to William who looked quite shocked himself. He looked up into Ren’s eyes, seeing that one way or another, they’d have to explain the non-hostility of this situation. “Oh, and you must be his colleague. We met the other day, but your partner talked with us over in the diner only two days ago about the case you’re working on. I’d like to apologise for any issues we may have caused.”

William just took it all in and shook Ren’s hand, not choosing to show any signs of confusement and that they didn’t meet in a different realm of reality entirely separated from the main world and made up of cognition.

And that William didn’t have the inner power of a demon resting inside of him that he could use to fight monsters in that same realm.

“Will… what the fuck… I mean… t-that’s nice… you sure… got to know them…?” Robbie was struggling to really make sense, however he shrugged his shoulders and looked on in curiosity.

“Rob, don’t sweat it. They’re good students and they told me what they knew about Kamoshida. We’re still back at square one, unfortunately.” William gave his colleague a light jab on the shoulder, even smiling and showing a different side of himself as he turned back to Ren and resumed their conversation. Ren was slightly perplexed by the behaviour shown off by William, noticing that the Metaverse must have made him respect the group a lot more considering what they did to him and the deal they forged. Having connections to a private detective might have been for the better, especially with the power of a Persona. It was just a shame that William didn’t choose to join the group, although… there was a bigger part of Ren that felt it was for the better.

“We have a request and… well, it feels awkward bringing this up… but thanks to your friend revealing my mostly hidden record, I assume you could help us find an address?” Ren specifically looked towards Robbie, the ginger feeling he had three pairs of eyes on him as he simply crossed his arms, looking on in chagrin. “... and? Our resources aren’t yours to use lightly.”

“So, you do have the resources?”

“Shit…!” Robbie looked down at the ground, trying to think of something to say in return, but he’d just been punked by a student. He wasn’t that much older than the presumably 16 year-old Ren; it was still a heavy bullet to take, considering how much he liked to stay in power during conversations.

“Hmm… I do have to ask you why you’d need an address?” William flicked some of his hair back, most likely sending particles of gel flying off into the air considering the amount he’d apply. “And… I gotta say sorry myself for knowing that you had a criminal record, maybe I judged you too early after following your little group around. It’s our fault.”

“... heh, I’m used to the judgements already. The students at my school had me pinned down from day one.” It was peculiar to both Ann and Robbie how both of these guys had suddenly hit it off, Ann knew more than Robbie though and simply watched back with a smile. They were here for one thing and she had the perfect lie to get what they wanted.

“Ann, do you mind explaining?” Ren used his free hand for gestures, like he always would, however a slight movement from behind made Ann notice what he was carrying. It was the flowers she wanted to purchase earlier… along with a few extra roses added in. She wanted to say something, however saved it and instead looked up at William, arms behind her back and legs slightly crossed.

“Yeah! Basically, one of our teachers is moving away and she was like, the best! Unfortunately, she’s been ill and off school, so our class came up with the idea of delivering a card to her address in the city. If you could help us out then it’d be much appreciated!” Ann spoke cheerfully, however a chuckle came from Robbie as he stepped forward and spoke for himself.

“Wait… really? That’s it?”

William looked over at his partner, it was rather an odd request, however with the Shujin Academy database in his possession due to the hacking by one of his other colleagues, it would be a matter of seconds to narrow down results in the database to find somebody’s address. They were in possession of dangerous files, but it didn’t matter… at least that’s what he thought, because he was MI5 affiliated. He couldn’t reveal his true colours, yet saying that he could have the information by tonight also was quite suspicious. Nevertheless, fighting in the Metaverse made him realise that he had to take risks when they presented themselves. To further his bond with the group and potentially learn more about Shujin Academy in the future? He figured helping them out with a simple request would be one step.

“Sure.”

Those were the only words he could mutter, not wanting to blab on like he was used to doing and letting loose too much information. “Do you mind giving me your contact info? It will make sending the address a lot easier?”

Ren and Ann both felt that they should question how William could definitely get them this address. He was only a private detective, but… this was better than aimlessly running around Shibuya in search for the residence. And even then, what if it wasn’t in Shibuya at all?

The raven haired student pulled out his phone, as William proceeded to do the same and they quickly exchanged numbers. Ann let Ren take the number, trusting her leader the most with tasks such as this.

“... anyway, I-I’ll try to get in contact with you later if I obtain this information by tonight. By narrowing down certain paths it should be…” William felt a jab into the back of his neck, right from Robbie as he gestured that they should start to head home. Reed just simply shrugged and took a step back, waving back to the duo. “... see ya, then!”

The goodbye felt a bit jaded and rushed, Ren and Ann watching as William and Robbie started their own conversation in their native language that Ann could identify as English. The detectives left as Morgana emerged out from the school bag once more, going to speak until Ren unknowingly cut him off.

“That sure went better than I ever thought it could. Who knew he would get along with us so well after what happened? Ain’t that right, Morgana?” Ren said, looking down to see Morgana staring back up at him, briefly turning away. “Yeah… yeah, I know it was bad… but it was worth it…!”

“And… um… Ann?”

Ann turned back to Ren, finding herself staring back into the rest of the shopping mall as she noticed that the boy had a slight blush on his face that were obscured by his glasses. He pulled out the small bouquet from behind his back, reminding himself of what he had to give to her. “I thought that you might forget… so I threw some extra roses in there and… bought it for you.”

On the outside, Ann simply smiled and took the flowers with a smile on her face also. She had been planning to put them in a vase that her parents had purchased for her, currently not having found anything suitable to place in the vase. Now, these roses would be perfect. On the inside, her heart felt like it was about to burst out. Ann didn’t know that Ren would already be willing to buy her flowers, it felt so romantic, sweet, kind and whatever else she could think of.

“T-thank you…! Haha… I can be a bit of a ditz sometimes, but now you’ve done this I HAVE to repay you!” Ann said, an even bigger smile had appeared across her face as Ren pushed a hand up and through his hair. “How about I introduce you to the wonderful world of crepes?! It’ll be my treat!”

“O-oh, right! Yeah… that’d be really nice, thank you.” Ren was even acting flustered now, a feeling he never thought even he could experience. The whole incident that led him to the city had made him think of the world as cold, but it was something about Ann that made the world a little bit brighter. And a brighter world is all that he could want in life.

* * *

 

Ren had heard of crepes before; walking around the city and seeing the main store in which Ann took him to after his kind gesture. The two talked and talked, about anything and everything, with Ren mainly listening to Ann and just taking the time to appreciate her. Ann would think the same for Ren. She didn’t see him as a criminal and he didn’t see her as a blonde airhead. They were just two normal students who were getting closer and closer to each other as the days passed.

After their visit, it was getting fairly late and both students decided to head back to their respective places. It wouldn’t be a quick journey though as when walking through the station square, Ren was drawn towards a certain lanky blue haired artist who was leaning against a wall, canvas below his right arm and his left hand pinching his forehead. Yusuke Kitagawa continued to search for inspiration under the nightlife of Shibuya. Nothing came to mind on this very day, which was the same result as he had been experiencing for over a week. Whatever he would take back to his sensei, it just wouldn’t be good enough. From simple sketches to a watercolour painting, nothing passed the keen eye of nationwide artist, Madarame.

“Kitagawa-kun, you’re out late again.” Ren said, walking up to the clearly tired Yusuke as the latter lifted his head up and smiled. “Still looking for inspiration?”

“Amamiya-san… it’s a pleasure to speak to you once more, and yes… when we first met I spoke of my sensei needing something new from me as his only remaining student.” Yusuke still managed to retain that honour and respect, despite the fact that the bags under his eyes forced him to blink a few times in order to regain his composure. “Furthermore, I believe that a change of location will benefit my artistry. That could be what I have been missing…”

The art student’s arts were then taken over to the other person that Ren was with. He suddenly felt a stream of inspiration was injected into his head; eyes widening as Yusuke stepped forward to face Ann. Ren followed Yusuke’s movements, whilst Ann had barely had a chance to introduce herself. “Are you perhaps an acquaintance of Amamiya-san?”

“Y-yeah… Ren and I are-”

“I see! You two do indeed make a good couple just from first impressions.” Yusuke didn’t even let Ann finish as with that last sentence, the blonde found herself backing up and holding both hands up to her mouth. Is that what others thought of her and Ren? It wasn’t like she was complaining at the moment, however not knowing what Ren truly felt towards her was the main factor was a big factor that made her shocked. On the other hand, Ren simply looked away and to his bag, the head of Morgana barely looking out as he saw a visible blush on Ren’s face. Before Ann could clear anything up, Ren decided to step in.

“We’re not dating, Kitagawa-kun… haha… we’re just really good friends.” Ren ruffled his hair slightly, looking over towards Ann who was slowly messing with the ends of her twin tails as Yusuke closed his eyes and nodded at the misunderstanding. “I do apologise, Amamiya-san. A theme that I have been pursuing to create on the canvas is that of the concept of soulmates. I am sorry for the misconception, but you two did truly reignite that spark in the back of my mind.”

“I-It’s fine…! At least you got that spark back, right?” Ann wanted to diverge away from the topic of dating as long as somebody else was around, deciding that she still hadn’t introduced herself fully. “And my name is Ann Takamaki, it’s good to meet you… um…”

“Yusuke Kitagawa. I am studying Art at Kosei High School, and Takamaki-san… it’s a pleasure to meet you, as it was with Amamiya-san.” Yusuke bowed in front of the two as Ann appreciated his clear kindness and respect. What Ren noticed though, was that Yusuke was looking a little bit… too much.at Ann’s face. There was a few seconds of silence as Yusuke simply closed his eyes once more, raising his canvas up to his chest.

“To capture the moment of two young lovers together… hmm… maybe one day…” Yusuke said out loud, trying to think to himself as the duo heard him, forcing Yusuke to gasp for a moment. Yusuke wasn’t exactly phased and instead flicked a strand of hair that was falling over his eyes. “My sensei should be expecting me back soon and considering that I plan to work into the night… I believe that my daily outside session has expired.”

“... wait, work into the night? Kitagawa-kun, you look exhausted.” Ren spoke out, ignoring what Yusuke said out loud to avoid further awkwardness. The bags under the artist’s eyes said it all as Yusuke instinctively used his sleeve to rub his eyes. “Yeah… don’t overwork yourself, please.” Ann chipped in, still twirling the same strand of hair around her right index finger.

“No, I can’t… my sensei’s next art exhibition is drawing near and my next piece is crucial to it being a success! I… I must be off now, please, forgive me.” Yusuke took the liberty to bow towards the pair separately, taking off as quick as his feet could carry him into the night. The wishes of his sensei were at the top of the list, there was no doubt about that. Ren turned to Ann as she watched Yusuke dash off, seeing the clear blush still on her face as the two were left alone once again in the unusual quiet station square late at night. There was a few more seconds of silence before she finally spoke up.

“He’s an… i-interesting character, isn’t he? I do worry about the amount of sleep he gets.” Ann stands around, now turning to Ren as he quickly looks away. “Are you okay? Was there something on my face?”

“N-no, not at all…I was just thinking of what Kitagawa-kun said.” Ren tried to chuckle at the end of the sentence, hands back down into his pockets as he looked back over to the flowers that he had purchased for Ann earlier. Yeah, he really did that. It was all still floating through his mind. “It’s kinda funny, right?”

“That he saw us as a couple… yeah, haha... “ Ann’s whole body felt like it was tensing up, her face nearly bright red at the mention of the word ‘couple’. Ann felt like this was the perfect time to finally get this feeling out of her head that she had from the day that Ren saw her in the rain. It might have just been love at first sight and getting to know him had helped her realise that he was more than just a label. Did Ren feel the same way though? Could his kind gesture of purchasing the roses she specifically picked out be due to affection or friendship?

It was now or never.

**“... Ren?”**

**“Yeah?”**

…

***RING* *RING***  
**Calling: Ryuji**

“Ah, shit... “ Ren took his phone out as it continued to ring, the caller ID being displayed as none other than Ryuji. Ann managed to peek over and didn’t show much on the outside, but secretly, she wanted to slap the hell out of Ryuji for ruining this moment. It was like all the confidence drained out from her body. There would be another day, she thought. Then again, Ann also needed to do this in a more private location rather than in the middle of the station square.

Meanwhile, Ren accepted the call and lifted the phone up to his right ear. “Yo,” he first said, deciding to put Ryuji on speaker as opposed to simply leaving Ann out of the conversation. It was risky per the Phantom Thief code, but they were all about risks. “You’re on speaker right now, Ryuji. Try to keep the ‘you know what’ to a minimum.”

“Sick! Anywho, I got the card done for tomorrow! Did you and Ann get the details of where Kawakami might be at?” Ryuji asked, Ren leaning in to make sure he was heard through the now increased hustle and bustle. “We managed to find him and it turns out our detectives know more than they’re giving away… if they never mentioned my criminal record, this could have been a lot harder.”

“I hate to say this, because you ain’t what they say, man, but yeah… I guess it has its uses, but that’s the truth with all three of us. We’re rejected by society, so we use our powers to fight back against it.” Ryuji said, keeping the mentions of the Metaverse, the concept of a Persona and other details to a minimum, and hey, even Ren was impressed by how smart he sounded.

“Wow, Ryuji… you make sense for once.” Ann cut in, making Ryuji immediately cut back in to shout back at her. “Hey! I try my best!”

As the friends continued to all speak to one another, mainly that of Ren and Ryuji as they recounted the day as well as the training session in Mementos the other day. It allowed Ann to take a step back and think about what Yusuke had thought of them, and of course, her own crush on the leader of the Phantom Thieves. She remembered always talking with Shihio about not being into quote on quote, ’cheesy’ dating, saying that she would wait until after high school to pursue anything like that. Then, Kamoshida came along and damaged any sort of hope of romance. That’s what she believed anyway.

Then, he came along. Ann couldn’t help but giggle to herself as Ren cut the call off with Ryuji and said his goodbyes, agreeing to walk her home in the process.

* * *

**Cafe Leblanc**

**19/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

There was no greeting as Ren came through the door of Cafe Leblanc, a simple grunt and nod from Sojiro was good enough for him at this point. It was a night where he wanted to try his hand at making coffee again, that of which had been a slight struggle for him to listen to Sojiro’s advice as his first cup caused his carer to spit it out. Sojiro was nice enough to at least compliment him on an attempt, but something had definitely made the old man slightly bitter the past few days. Ren was the type of person to want to know what somebody was going through to try and help them, it just wasn’t going to work with Sojiro. This could be the day though, it was just that somebody else sitting at the bar caught his attention.

“Detective?” Ren placed the school bag on one of the tables and sat down on the stool next to the man he had fought in the Metaverse. William Reed was indeed back at Leblanc, this time by himself and not with his usual acquaintance of public prosecutor, Sae Niijima. He himself was surprised at Ren’s appearance once more. William lifted the cup of coffee up and took a sip before placing it down on the small plate, turning to Ren with a slight smirk on his face as he layed his phone out in front of him.

“Don’t ask any questions, alright? I was planning on sending it to your phone and well, it seems that the stars have aligned and we’ve met here.” William’s phone from first appearance, looked extremely expensive and modified. The interface, the design… it was definitely something for Ren to digest as a list of coordinates appear from William’s gallery. The photo was of the coordinates only, seemingly on some sort of computer interface and everything else was blurred out. He made a good job of covering up his tracks. “Either you write them down and enter them into the maps application or I’ll send the actual image later.”

“The second option works,” Ren said in return, looking up to Sojiro who passed him a cup of coffee without any need for Ren asking. “How are you anyway? I didn’t get a chance to ask earlier.”

“I’m cool, yeah. My colleague wasn’t too happy with how I was acting around you and your friend. He’s always in a mood, but then on the other hand, I haven’t told him about what happened in the… other world.” William avoided using the actual name, mainly because he wasn’t sure about it and he also had a deal with the Phantom Thieves to avoid telling anybody else about him. That was just between him and Ren though, because it wouldn’t hurt to tell others about helping him out in Mementos, right? The main point was that he needed to keep his trust with Ren and avoid spotting the group in that place again.

“Call it that, yeah. We don’t need to use the official terms out in the open.” Ren said, taking the first sip of his coffee. Despite the fact that the store was mostly empty apart from himself, William and Sojiro, it made for good practice. Sojiro was also a tricky customer, the last thing he needed was that Ren was doing something like that. “You said you weren’t going to venture into it anymore, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I just don’t think that lifestyle is for me, being a detective and whatnot, not in my home country. I’m not a rebel, full stop.” William gulps the last bit of his coffee, placing the cup down on the plate again. “So, tell me, Amamiya… how did you come to Tokyo? My best guess is that you live in the area?”

Seeing a way to reverse the question around and not give away every little detail, Ren simply nodded. “Yeah, and anyway, I never got a chance to ask you about how you grew up and came to be in this area. You’re clearly not from Japan.”

“Bingo. The truth is that I’m from the United Kingdom, England to be more specific. My father is English, my mother is a quarter-Japanase which she got from my grandfather. The facial features don’t give anything away about that, but it’s there.” William said, revealing part of his life to some student who he’d barely come to know might have been a huge mistake, but there was something about Ren that William believed he could confide in him. Then again, he had a criminal record… supposedly.

…

_Was what he did… that bad?_

…

“Nobody could tell from how I looked, but believe it or not, I’m Japanase. It’s how I actually was positioned out here from the detective agency I represent. My other colleagues have no connections to this country, but they were assigned with me and over the years and through many intensive language courses… we’re here. From petty crimes to finding out information on serial killers, we’ve done it all. Nobody knows who we are though, we operate in a very hidden fashion.” William followed up with, his smile faded away as he knew that the next topic was quite sensitive to him. Again, why the hell did he feel compelled to tell this kid everything?

_… whatever._

“I lived back at home with my father, mother and sister. I attended private school after private school throughout my years, eventually though, the household I was living in…” William stopped for a second, looking down at his hands and taking a deep breath. “... it fell apart, I guess you could say…”

“Fell apart? It was a rough childhood then I assume… I can relate though. I’ve been through some tough times.” Ren’s words got through to William, making him continue on as he started tapping on the wooden surface with his fingers.

“Heh… one of the same then,” William stopped tapping, bringing a hand up to his chin. “ My sister was my best friend, totally. We were close. It was just a shame that she was forced to leave the house by my father around six years ago for reasons in which I don’t feel comfortable in sharing. Not too long afterwards, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Then, the divorce happened.”

Even thinking back to the incident, William felt a heavy weight on his heart.

“My mother? I don’t know where she is… dad forbid me from even trying to reach out to her. The truth of the matter is that there was more to my sister, mother and father that what I once knew. It’s why I became an ally of justice. There’s others out there who might suffer from the same problems, be it bigger or smaller, that I went through. As a group, we chose Japan because of the current state of the political ladder. It’s a much different environment to anywhere I’ve been, let me tell you…”

Ren could tell as he went on, the detective’s voice was getting weaker and weaker.

“You don’t have to go on… so, how about I tell you my story?” the boy said, slightly surprising Reed, but also relieving him at the same time. He was the type of person to keep talking and not know when to stop.

“Your story… alright, mate.”

William and Ren had somehow went from sworn enemies to good friends within a matter of days. Although, Ren didn’t know that William was continuing to use the Metaverse for his own needs along with the fact that the supposed detective planned on telling others about the place. Reed knew that some secrets were better hidden away and decided to listen to Ren’s story.

The details of which?

They were something else.

…

* * *

 

**I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast acquired a new vow.**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.**

**With the birth of the Strength Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter! It took quite a while to draft and check over, so I hope you all enjoy it! Some key details...
> 
> \- My fellow ShuAnn fans. The confession won't be long now! I hope you like the way I'm taking their relationship to begin with.
> 
> \- William and the rest of [soon to be revealed group name] will be extremely inexperienced with fighting compared to the Phantom Thieves, but their intellect and technique will be through the roof. Don't expect them to interact much whilst in the Metaverse, they both have their own unique aims that will be revealed later on. 
> 
> \- Kasumi being introduced will simply be a nice little cameo and she won't play any part in the story, potentially in one of the future series after P5: Royal comes out, but for now? She's simply a first-year who works at the flower shop, as well as someone who judges Ren for being branded as a criminal.
> 
> \- Yusuke's early introduction will also play into the next arc and how that will slightly differ.
> 
> \- There's a good reason why Ren's re-telling of his childhood to Ann and now to William aren't being shown, I promise that it'll all come together in a future chapter, in which I plan on having most of a single chapter dedicated to showing how Ren was raised and what led to him being transferred to Tokyo. As per the AU, there might be some surprises thrown in there!
> 
> \- And finally, William and the rest of [soon to be revealed group name] will represent the Strength confidant as opposed to Justine and Caroline, who I do plan on making appearances, however they will represent a different Arcana. The Velvet Room will play a big part, but for now, imagine that Ren makes sporadic appearances to fuse Personas and chat with Igor. The other confidants will also make appearances, including a few that play into the AU storyline, however imagine that every day or so, Ren at least goes out of his way to interact with these people as per the game, it's just that some in particular will be given extra detail. Ann, Sojiro, Ryuji etc.


	10. Where The Cash At

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day had come for the Phantom Thieves to take the treasure (and heart) of Sadayo Kawakami, another teacher from Shujin Academy who fell to corruption. Tasked with delivering the calling card, Ann gets some heartwarming news from an old friend, whilst the exam results have Ren and Ryuji rubbing it into a certain honour student. The heist looks to be a success until one member of the group is forced to pay off the debt he created in conjuction with Kawakami.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**20/05/16**

* * *

 

**(1) new messages in: EXAM RESULTS 2DAY!**

**SKULLBOI changed F3arlessL3ader’s name to: exam jesus**

**exam jesus: no.**

**exam jesus changed exam jesus’ name to: J o k e r**

**J o k e r: better.**

**SKULLBOI: you’re no fun.**

**J o k e r: I am a lot of fun, thank you very much.**

**SKULLBOI: coming from the guy who was so confident about his exam results when the rest of us are shitting ourselves**

**J o k e r: it’s your fault when Ann is the only one asking me to help her study.**

**queen of crepes: ;)**

**queen of crepes: orrrrrrr, maybe you just aren’t good enough, ryuji**

**SKULLBOI: i’ve already said that exams aren’t my strong suit!**

**SKULLBOI: ren you better god damn help me next time**

**queen of crepes: denied, he’s MY study partner ;))))))**

**SKULLBOI: stop**

**SKULLBOI: this**

**SKULLBOI: right**

**SKULLBOI: now**

**J o k e r: so, are you still okay with the plan, Ann?**

**queen of crepes: yesss. i couldn’t let you risk being late to school again after ryuji told me what happened on your first day of school**

**J o k e r: those were the days...**

**SKULLBOI: have we stopped talking about exams?**

**SKULLBOI: anyone?**

**J o k e r: you’re good, Ryuji.**

**J o k e r: Morgana will be with you on the way to school, Ann. i’ll walk with Ryuji to avoid any real suspicion.**

**queen of crepes: the first and only time you’ll say that.**

**SKULLBOI: HEY**

**queen of crepes: kidingggg**

**…**

**…**

**SKULLBOI: can i ask a v important question?**

**queen of crepes: no**

**SKULLBOI: fuck off ann**

**queen of crepes: ;)))))))))))))**

**J o k e r: what is it, Ryuji?**

**SKULLBOI: that niijima chick.**

**SKULLBOI: i’m starting to see her a lot more often now around town.**

**queen of crepes: oh?**

**SKULLBOI: like for real, there’s these days where i’m just chilling in town and she’s behind me with a manga cover over her face**

**J o k e r: I would like to admit something.**

**queen of crepes: oh?**

**J o k e r: i’m inclined to agree with Ryuji.**

**J o k e r: not like I really know her, but the whole ‘manga cover’ thing is bringing me back to the other day when me and Ann were looking for those detectives.**

**queen of crepes: and when you bought flowers for meeee. ;)))**

**J o k e r: shhh :)))**

**SKULLBOI: buy me ramen.**

**J o k e r: name a day.**

**SKULLBOI: uh**

**SKULLBOI: well, should we take care of kawakami first? then we can have another celebration party!**

**queen of crepes: as much as i loved the buffet, i don’t want to explode from the amount of food.**

**J o k e r: and we barely have any money left for something similar.**

**J o k e r: ramen, then?**

**queen of crepes: i vote crepes!**

**J o k e r: actually…**

**J o k e r: yes.**

**SKULLBOI: wtf is a crepe.**

**queen of crepes: you haven’t been enlightened yet.**

**queen of crepes: and also it’s my chat name you idiot.**

**J o k e r changed SKULLBOI’s name to: Idiot**

**Idiot: i hate you both**

**Idiot changed idiot’s name to: SKULLBOI (not an idiot)**

**queen of crepes: for real, let’s actually celebrate with crepes after we steal the treasure!**

**J o k e r: deal.**

**SKULLBOI (not an idiot): deal.**

* * *

 

It was definitely a change for Morgana to be laying inside somebody else’s school bag other than Ren’s, however considering who the person was, there was no complaining on his end. Ann Takamaki’s mission for today was simple, walk to school as normal and take a diversion to the other end of Shibuya in order to deliver the calling card to Sadayo Kawakami’s household. Ren had sent her the co-ordinates last night that he received from the young detectives, and they mostly had William to thank, the only one that could also use a Persona in the Metaverse, although their leader had said that William wasn’t going to be using the other dimension.

“Lady Ann…” Morgana said, peeking out from inside the comfort of Ann’s bag as he looked up and around at some of the students who were also walking around them. “... we need to take a right from here, then it shouldn’t be far.”

“Mhm. It’s still quite early, but if we find it quickly then getting back to school exactly before the first class begins will still be possible.” Ann spoke back to the feline and made a sharp right, still checking her phone to make sure she was going in the correct direction. All this time, she was still thinking about Ren, just Ren. It didn’t matter that the heist was today, for some reason, he was the only thing to pop into her mind. It made for a change that she was risking herself instead of him… but it felt right. “I might have to speed up… looks like we misjudged the location.”

“For a teacher to live this far out… it’s intriguing.” Morgana continued to look around at their surroundings. He was more interested in striking up a conversation with Ann herself as the slight breeze blew her twintails backwards, giving Morgana a better look at the girl he had been infatuated with since the incident back in Kamoshida’s Palace. This was no time to think about that though, they had a heist to look forward to.

“Not really, my guess is that she has some sort of transport that helps her get to school. And regardless, like, she’d have to be there before all students in order for what they call a briefing.” Ann didn’t look back down at Morgana, her eyes still glued to the phone screen, where the application currently displayed simply told her to keep going forward.

 ***RING* *RING***  
**Calling: Shiho**

**…!**

The screen switched to that of an incoming call, and almost after immediately looking at the name, Ann accepted the call and held the phone up to her right ear. “Helloooooo!” Ann’s voice picked up as she greeted her best friend, who she still believed to be in hospital after the incident back in April. “Ann! How are you, dear?”

“Fine, just fine! As usual,” Ann had a smile on her face, continuing ahead and not bothering to check back on the maps application, knowing that the destination was just going to be a long walk forward. “You’re calling rather early! Did you want me to get you anything after school?”

“No… none of that, heh… unless I can come on over to yours for some sweets!” Shiho called back to her, sending a realisation through Ann’s head. Shiho coming over to her home? She was supposed to still be recovering in hospital! “Hey, aren’t you still recovering? I wouldn’t want to take you out of the hospital just to come around to mine.”

“Hahaha…!”

A laugh came out from the other side of the phone, making Ann rather confused as she anticipated the best and worst news. Instead, she regained her composure and started to speak up once again. “D-does that mean you’re out of…”

“Yes, silly! The lovely doctor said that my condition had improved enough for me to go home for a few days before I’m required back for some quick tests!” Shiho replied from the other side of the phone, clearly excited which then in turn made Ann that much more cheerful, nearly dropping her phone in the process.

“That’s amazing! Oh, Shiho…!” Ann sniffed after a few seconds, and expecting a stream of tears, Morgana decided the best course of action was to just wait until the conversation was over and ducked back inside the school bag. Instead, Ann wiped her eyes and realised that her best friend was finally back. “It’s been a rough time… but we’ve made it through, and trust me, I’ve got SO much to tell you!”

“I’m sure you do… hehe. I hope it hasn’t been too lonely for you over at Shujin, but from watching the news I saw that Mr. Kamoshida has been taken care of… it’s a huge weight off of my shoulders.” Shiho sighed and her voice dropped for a second with the mention of Kamoshida’s name. “... you’re close with Ryuji again, aren’t you? Then there’s this one boy you keep telling me about, hehe, I forgot his name…”

“Ren. Ren Amamiya. He’s uh…” Ann said the name of her fellow phantom thief, realising that if anybody were to help her with her ongoing issues with love, then it would be Shiho. She held off for a second and thought over it, nearly prompting a reply from Shiho as Ann cut in. “... yeah, he’s my friend, a really good one. I never thought that the transfer student branded as a ‘criminal’ would become so close to me.”

Shiho didn’t respond at first, simply giggling over the phone as Ann took the opportunity to take the phone away from her ear and pull down the notification window. It showed that only a few seconds ago, she had to turn a sharp right. And just like that, Ann backed up and went down the right path, in which the application showed that it would only take another minute to reach the house of Kawakami. “W-what’s funny?” Ann lifted the phone back up, still finding that Shiho was attempting to control herself.

“Well, if we take how much you’ve been speaking about this boy to the way you talk about him…” Shiho stopped to chuckle once more, with Ann now leaning against a wall as she didn’t want to miss any other turns. “... then I think that somebody has a crush on the transfer student!”

In an instant, she became flustered. “W-wha?! H-how did you kno- I mean!” Ann just realised what she said, basically confirming Shiho’s suspicions. “... urgh, be thankful that you’re my best friend…”

“It’s easy to know when you’re calling him cute, by accident or not,” Shiho said back, expecting a response as she instead continued on with Ann just hanging her head downwards, rooting through her bag for the book she had slid the calling card into. “Have you told him about it yet?”

“No, it’s like, half nerves and half not knowing what he thinks of me in that way. What if he doesn’t like me?” Ann bit down on her lip, finally pulling out the calling card and not noticing that Morgana had taken a few bumps on the way from her hand rummaging around.

“Nonsense!” Shiho almost immediately replied, making Ann slightly jump due to the raise in volume “Do you remember the day before the incident? Before I… well, we don’t need to talk about that… but I’m almost positive that it was this Amamiya who I talked to. He seemed lonely, and I told him not to pay any attention to the rumours that were floating around. Amamiya-kun was sweet, really sweet.”

“Um… he… bought me flowers just yesterday, I mean… ! I picked a few out myself and said that I really, like, really liked roses and then he picked a few more out and like… gave them to me… and urgh! How does somebody like him come along only in April and be THIS good?! Look, Shiho… I really have to rush to school, but come tonight and…” Ann looked over at the time on the top of her phone, seeing that she had only five minutes to make it to school and where she was located, a full sprint to the train station would be required.

“... he got you flowers?! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod… it’s happening!” Shiho happily yelled out, then remembering what Ann just said and calming herself down. “Please, tell me ALL the details later! I’ll let you go now! Byeeeee!”

And before Ann could say goodbye back to her best friend, the call was already cut off as she breathed a sigh of relief and pocketed her phone. Ann looked towards the calling card in her hand and realised that the household was just a block away. She started a quick jog over towards the mailbox positioned in front of the condo of sorts. It looked run down, clearly out of its depth. It was nothing special and a faint light was on in the living room. Without thinking, Ann opened the mailbox and slid the red calling card inside, turning on her heel to run back down the street and towards the train station.

_Finally! God, my teachers are going to kill me! Oh, maybe I can call Ren and ask him to explain why I’ll be late… I need a reason… a reason of why I would be late…_

…

**(1) new message from: Ren**

**Ren: i’m going to have to give a reason to why you’re late aren’t I?**

**She quickly texted back to him.**

**Ann: pls!! i got delayed with a phone call from shiho! she’s out of the hospital!**

**Ren: that’s great, it really is.**

**Ren: I hate to say this, but we need to forget about shiho for a minute.**

**Ren: get your head in the game for tonight’s mission.**

**Ren: it can’t fail.**

**Ann: you can always rely on me, renren.**

**Ren: Renren?**

**Ann: ryuji calls you it all the time!**

**Ren: true.**

**Ren: but you’re sweet so i’ll let you off.**

**Ann: <3**

Ann then realises what she just sent, trying to text back before realising that Ren was already texting himself. The next message she expected be some sort of question.

…

**Ren: <3**

All this time, Ann didn’t realise that a certain feline was sitting inside her bag, listening to the entire conversation she had on the phone with Shiho. Ann didn’t even realise that Morgana was still there by the time she barely reached Shujin Academy and was out of breath. Morgana had completely covered his own head after hearing that Ann was indeed crushing hard over their leader. It was supposed to be his girl, his moment and yet, Ren had taken that away from him.

For some reason, Morgana felt the slightest bit of envy course through his body.

* * *

 

_“You’re kidding me!”_

_“Him?! He’s one of the highest in the class?!”_

_“He’s not at the top! Don’t go praising him!”_

_“Did you get the fourth highest score in the year?! No! That… that criminal did!”_

_“Hmm…”_

May 20th. It was exam results day for Shujin Academy and Makoto Niijima had her eyes on all the results but her own. Makoto herself had already taken the liberty to view her own results and it was as expected, top of the class and top of the third-year. It came as a surprise to nobody that the student council president was number one across the school and in her own year. She had been this way since the first year at Shujin, then the second year was a repeat. Makoto had managed to get at the front of the crowd viewing their own results; many disappointed, some happy and even fewer were surprised or elated. There was one group in particular that stood out near the back of the crowd. Makoto had been keeping a close eye on each one of them, mainly the boy whose name was near the bottom of the second-year list.

Ryuji never expected to go far in the exams and this was just more proof. He dropped his head and looked up to the other two students, his friends in Ren and Ann. Further scanning up the list, Makoto saw Ann Takamaki’s name right in the middle. She was the definition of average across the whole year. Not great and not bad either. Ann had come into school fairly late, panting and out of breath. Ren had given the excuse that the trains were delayed, to which it was painfully accepted by Mr. Hiruta. Ren had given her a sip of his water, until Ann gulped most of it down and promised to repay him.

 _Speaking of Ren Amamiya…_ Makoto said to herself, looking across the middle of the board to try and find his name. Nothing. He must’ve done poorly, that’s fine for a transfer student coming here on probation. From the middle to the bottom, still, there was no sign of his name. This was surprising for Makoto as she looked up from the middle… then further up… then to the top.

There he was. Ren Amamiya was ranked fourth in the entire year. His results were shocking for who he had been labelled as. Makoto looked backwards towards the trio, who were also looking at the results for the first time. Ren’s eyebrows raised, Ann’s mouth agape and Ryuji with his arms raised high in the air.

“YEAH! REN! YOU DID IT!” Ryuji loudly yelled, attracting some of the students towards his group as he wrapped an arm around the now smiling Ren. He gave his arm a few light jabs, causing a reaction from Ren as he now decided to stand up and walk towards the results chart. From the crowd around him, everybody’s eyes were on the one branded as a criminal. He stood besides Makoto and turns to her. She had been known through the group to be a slight thorn in their sides, appearing to follow Ryuji and even argue with Ann over hers and others’ opinions of the group.

Ren felt that he tapped into his other side for a second, nuding Makoto slightly and pointing to his name.

“Not bad, huh?”

Makoto was still surprised, shocked even. She was still quick to respond. “Y-yes, for somebody like you then it’s great to see you flourishing early on. I do hope you can pass some knowledge down onto Takamaki-san and Sakamoto-kun.”

“It’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Ren started to back up, the crowd observing the conversation between him and Makoto. “Whether these students get good grades. Sure, they’re important if you want to pursue a certain type of career, but people’s goals are all different from one another. Would you sacrifice a social life to be recognised as the smartest kid in school?”

“T-that’s not what I said! I was simply asking you to pass down your knowledge to help other students. They could benefit from your results and not just Sakamoto-kun and Takamaki-san. And as student council president, it’s my duty to make sure that everybody at this school is achieving the best they can. You’re assuming a lot here, Amamiya-san.” Makoto was getting rather weary of the crowd forming, but she wouldn’t back down from Ren. Meanwhile, Ryuji and Ann had front row seats to all of this and couldn’t be happier at seeing their leader take it to the one thorn in their side.

“You’re not answering my question,” Ren glared over at a few students to try and disperse the crowd, allowing him and his friends some more room. “I understand that the only thing your mind is fully tuned into is being this ‘honour’ student, but just take a minute to realise that you’re more of a nuisance than a helping hand, especially towards my friends and I.”

“Nuisance? I’ll have you know that as the student council president-”

“Just shut up, you’re a broken record at this point,” Ren’s shout definitely caught Makoto off guard, but it still didn’t push her fully down; standing her guard as the only real students left watching were Ann and Ryuji, who both glared at Makoto with a look to kill. “You follow my friends not only around the school, but in the city. You talk about myself making assumptions when everybody at this school, yourself included, are standing in awe at these results because the ‘criminal’ got one of the highest in the years and across the school as a whole. I ask this of you respectfully, because unless you have legitimate business with us, then please stay out of our lives.”

With a gesture towards both Ann and Ryuji, they started to follow him away, most likely heading towards their usual spot outside. Makoto didn’t change her expression and looked at the group walking away, pulling out her phone and letting out a deep sigh. Makoto really wanted to help them, but the chains that Kobayakawa had thrust upon her stopped any signs of that. If he noticed she was hanging around with three students who all had their respective issues with teachers and other students, Makoto could lose everything. Well, maybe not everything.

It was just all too much for her to handle at the moment.

* * *

 

It was finally time to act.

The Phantom Thieves had been let out of school and made their way to Shibuya, making sure they were all ready and prepared before Ryuji activated the application and sent them into the Metaverse. It wasn’t until Ann had reached school that they had realised the group had no way of knowing whether Kawakami had received the calling card, forcing Morgana to somehow make his way all the way from the school to her residence once more. All this time, and the team got to relax in class until Morgana was able to return much later on in the day. He confirmed that Kawakami hadn’t gotten up to check the mail until he got there, being forced to make a distraction by jumping up and hitting the mailbox over and over. She read the card and according to the feline, appeared extremely shocked having received such a thing. At the same time, Morgana could sense the guilt on her face as she headed back inside the house after reading it.

That was the proof the group needed. It also helped that as soon as they got inside the palace and appeared on the platform outside the main gazebo, Mona’s senses indicated that the security level had shot up to the max. That meant one thing, the treasure would have materialised.

“Team! We’ve worked hard for this and it’s finally time for the Phantom Thieves to strike again!” Mona raised his arm up high in the air, not reaching far off the ground as each member of the group all looked towards each other and nodded. Joker gestured for the team to come in, all of them placing their arms around each other and heads held down.

“Everybody… we’ve already had a huge impact on Shujin Academy to get rid of such a vile teacher… now we have to work together in order to save Kawakami. I don’t want to stop this until Shujin Academy is free of corruption. Then, Mona has always spoken about Mementos and our public image. That’s another target for the longevity of our group. I want us to be true allies of justice, not just teenagers who have been done wrong by society.” Joker was serious when it came to team talks, this was no different. With one look at Panther, then another at Skull, and finally Mona now resting on his shoulder, he managed to smile.

“I want to make a difference, and I know that you all want to make a difference too.” Joker backed up, the team talk finished as they all drew their weapons and prepared to finally make an impact on the circus.

“Been waiting for a while to steal another treasure!” Skull shouted out, letting his club slide to his side and cracking his knuckles. “You better lead the way, Joker. I want retribution for how I dragged us into this mess… but yeah, man, there’s nobody better to lead us into battle.”

“Mhm, Skull is right.” Panther said, catching Joker’s attention as he had already been leading the team up and towards the incision that was still there during their original breakthrough. “We share the same ambitions as you, always. Let’s get in there and show these shadows who means business!”

She was extremely enthusiastic, even in situations like these. Joker liked that about her, although at this moment, his mind was only on retrieving the treasure and fully changing Kawakami’s heart to try and make a difference in Shujin Academy. “Thank you, everyone.” he simply said.

Mona was the one to find his way to the incision, heading in without the group really having a chance to speak to the feline. Joker and Panther in particular noted that there was something up with Mona as of recent, acting a lot more brash and bold in decisions. It was evident in Mementos and now in the palace. Joker wished that those qualities would translate into positives when it came to acting in the Metaverse.

“Come on! I know that Mona has this goddamn fascination for treasure, but at least let us have a look at it first!” Skull was quick to head on after Mona, leaving Joker and Panther to follow up behind as they made their way into the darkness and climbed up onto the backstage area. “The hell is this even gonna be… y’know something like we got with Kamoshida would be sweet… imagine the yen…!”

The light of the treasure still illuminated the empty and dark backstage area. Despite now having been visualised, it still carried that charm of not knowing what it was. Mona had already pounced forward and expected to lean his head up and against the valuable… but it was anything but that. Skull joined Mona by his side, with Joker and Panther bringing up the rear. Joker reached out and raised a hand to his forehead, peering to the item.

“That’s… that’s a school book, a ruined one at that. Any student could recognise one of these.” Joker said, leaning backwards as Mona was jumping up and down, trying to get a better look. “Let me see!”

Mona jumped up onto Joker’s right shoulder, staring up at the same sight and trying to reach out for the textbook…

…

**… and then it just disappeared.**

**…!**

“Wha?! H-how?! Treasures aren’t supposed to do that! They’re supposed to remain in place..!” Mona was scrambling to spit out words, eventually jumping off of Joker’s shoulder and nearly falling over in the darkness. The light was gone and now the crew had to somehow make their way through this vast area. “Ha… did I ever say that I’m like… a lil’ scared of the dark…” Panther spoke up, finding herself bumping into one of her teammates and from the silent reaction, it was most definitely Joker. Skull would have questioned why she did such a thing straight away.

Then, she felt another hand wrap around hers.

“... my mother always said that I never liked the dark when I was little. We’ll find a way out, together.” Joker said, and if the lights were on, then he would’ve seen a blush on Panther’s face that matched the colour of her mask. Before she could speak back, another person bumped into the two. “Hey… hey! You two here? I was expecting some shadows to jump out at us…”

“We’re here, and don’t get your hopes up… the treasure disappearing act might only be the start of things.” Joker was quick to reply as he felt a hand on his left shoulder, opposite to the right hand wrapped around Panther’s left hand. “We need to take a risk and head forward, from when the light was here, Mona and I confirmed to one another that there is some sort of curtain in front of us. It has to lead to the main performing arena, I’m sure of it.”

“And! These shadows must have been expecting us already… the disappearing treasure, the fact that this leads back out to the main stage. My guess is that the shadows want us to fight in the arena to earn this treasure.” Mona said, still perched on the shoulder of Joker as all of the thieves were gripping onto him. Secretly, Joker loved and hated this at the same time. He did enjoy his personal space… and then Ann is basically holding his hand, he just hopes it’s an indication of the future.

Step after step… after step…

They edged closer along the backstage area, and as soon as Joker could reach out and feel a material in front of him, he tapped his foot on the ground a few times to grab the attention of the others. “This might be it… expect anything and everything… although…”

“My apologies for interrupting here, leader… but wouldn’t we be expecting a much louder reaction like what was present when we first discovered the treasure’s location? It seems odd that we’re hearing no such noises.” Mona stayed perched on the shoulder of Joker, not noticing that the group was a member short.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking… and going back to what you said about the shadows expecting us, this seems like they want us to have a false sense of security.” Joker pushed a hand up towards his mask, yep, that was still going to be there. His hand then transitioned back over towards the curtain, wanting to make sure that everybody was still present, despite the fact that the rest of his group were all gripping onto him in some capacity. “A quick check… Mona?”

“Here and present!”

“Panther?”

“Here!”

“Skull?”

…

Nothing.

**“Skull?!”**

…

Again, nothing. In realty, Joker should have realised that something was up as soon as he stopped feeling the hand grip his shoulder in an attempt to waver through the darkness. Without a warning, Joker, Panther and Mona all felt a huge stream of light hit them in the face, the previously closed curtain opening up to reveal the previously noted screaming crowd full of shadows. It was almost magical how they reappeared that quickly, and Joker found himself and two of his companions on a balcony of sorts, overseeing the huge performing arena as a lone figure was identifiable from where they were situated. The huge gazebo that represented the main attraction of the circus seemed much bigger than the last time they only came through the front, it was quite a spectacle and not in a good way.

“Down there! That’s…! That’s…!” Panther ran forward and shouted down towards the arena, her voice barely reaching whoever was now down there and sprawled out across the floor. “That’s Skull!”

The blonde found himself conscious once more, barely able to take in what happened for him to end up here as he had been assaulted in the darkness. He felt some sort of liquid running down his forehead and lifted his right index finger up, examining it to confirm what he already had feared, that he was bleeding already. Skull found that his weapon of choice was also missing, instead leaving only him and him alone in the middle of this large circle with multiple small gates surrounding him, an even higher cage wall surrounding the entire structure and allowing the crowd to look on in.

“The ‘eff, man… shit…” Skull mumbled, trying to stand up fully by holding a hand to his head whilst another on the ground pushed his body upwards.

From the balcony, the rest of the Phantom Thieves could only look on in horror as they saw Skull alone and without any sort of weapon to defend himself in the middle of the arena. Joker especially feared the worst for his best friend, running forward and attempting to jump over the balcony when a sudden electric shock ran through his body, sending him flying backwards into the wall of the gazebo. It was like being zapped with a cattle prod over and over again, causing Joker to stay on the floor in pain for a few seconds as both Panther and Mona hurried over to tend to him.

“Joker! Holy shit… are you okay?!” Panther blurted out, grabbing one of his arms to pull it up and around her neck. Mona could only stand around and watch, trying to get a grasp of their surroundings. The feline felt a sudden presence coming down from above and sure enough, he was correct.

“I… I tried to fight back… it just isn’t worth it…”

Shadow Kawakami was dangled down from above, the puppet strings keeping her afloat in the air right in front of the balcony. She looked much more beat up than last time, sporting various marks on her face. It caused each thief to look up, standing back in shock as Mona attempted to act quickly. “Zorro!”

Mona called for his Persona, with Zorro appearing as he shouted out the name. In an instant, Zorro dashed towards Shadow Kawakami. The bars on the balcony then rose up as the Persona approached the shadow, sending shockwaves through Zorro and forcing him to retreat back into a blue flame that resurfaced within Mona. It wasn’t just a balcony anymore, it was a full on shark cage as Joker, Panther and Mona found themselves staring down the shadow as well as fearing for Skull’s safety down in the performance arena.

“Why? Why are you doing this, Kawakami?! Have you not realised the chains holding you down?” Joker was now standing up again, his arm still around Panther as he shouted in Shadow Kawakami’s direction, causing a limp reaction from the shadow itself. “Imagine how all these students felt, all the students that trusted you… believed in you, like us.”

“I already told you my side of the story, such students like yourselves wouldn’t understand how it feels to live with such guilt in your life.” Shadow Kawakami’s whole body jolted to the side, her limbs moving unnaturally. “... if I reveal everything to you… will you understand why I did what I did? Why I stopped trusting students…”

“... tell us, please.” Joker was cautious in the way he spoke, trying to understand if the shadow was being truthful to him. Mona had already told the group that the shadows of individuals tend to reveal more than their real world counterparts are willing to say. “Your treasure… it belonged to a former student of yours, didn’t it?”

It was a hunch, but one that paid off. “Yes… his name was Taiki Takase. A second-year, like all of you. For months, Takase-san was constantly at the lower end of the spectrum. He had lost his parents at a young age, worked three part-time jobs to provide for himself, and frequently skipped school for reasons that the principal didn’t know at the time. I wanted to make a difference to such a student and decided to give him private tutoring lessons…”

Her voice dropped for a second, with the Phantom Thieves not choosing to cut in, instead listening as the strings kept Shadow Kawakami raised up in front of their cage. “... then the principal ordered my act of kindness to stop, simply because Takase-san was labelled as a delinquent, a thief almost. He wasn’t that. He was a lone boy used by his guardians, who constantly put him down, forcing him to skip school and try to find residence with somebody else. Nobody understood him, apart from myself.”

“It was on one night that I was given an ultimatum, either stop tutoring or resign from my job. My job was all that I had, so therefore I gave up on Takase-san. He received the news whilst on the way to one of his jobs and… his voice, it haunts me to this day… it made me realise that some people in life just aren’t worth it anymore. The next day, his guardians charged into school and reported that he had passed away in an accident, presumably after I gave him the horrible news. The boy worked so hard to try and change how he was viewed in society, only to have his life taken because I stuck a limb out for him.”

Joker couldn’t help but look away, it was truly a tragic story. He looked back towards Shadow Kawakami, not seeing her as a shadow, but instead as the real teacher and person, Sadayo Kawakami. With a hand going down through his hair, words tried to leave Joker’s mouth to no avail. It allowed the shadow to continue.

“The guardians that adopted Takase-san blamed me for his death. I’ve been in permanent debt with them for months through a scheme that they themselves as well as somebody else was organising in Shujin. It’s a scheme that I know little about, but one that expands all throughout Tokyo. I was given order after order, requested payment after payment… simply because of one mistake. So…”

“... so, what? You decided to turn to this second life in order to pay off your debts, all because you couldn’t find the strength to fight back?” Joker raised his voice, trying to reach through to the other Kawakami. “You’re taking a simple mistake that wasn’t your fault and using it as an excuse to make other students miserable! Did you ever think of reaching out?”

“No! You still don’t get it!” The shadow’s voice cut through the air, bringing Ren forward a few steps as the only thing separating the two were the bars of the now present cage. “The power that the Takases hold within their circle is something that young people will not understand, whilst us bottom feeders will be unable to fight against. We cannot rebel or risk losing everything near and dear to us…”

“... so I gave in. I’m their pawn. And now, your friend needs to do what I did for many, many painful months… give back to those stronger than him.”

“But what about…?!” Panther strutted forward, not seeing that the strings attached to the shadow yanked Kawakami backwards. Shadow Kawakami laughs to herself as a single string lifts her right arm upwards, sending the crowd into some sort of frenzy as multiple spotlights shined down on the main performing arena. Joker, Mona and Panther all gripped onto the bars, looking through the small gaps as Shadow Kawakami was pulled down to a platform.

“... no, no… I see what she’s going to do!” Mona wasn’t able to find any room of sorts to look through the bars, instead choosing to stand on Joker’s left shoulder again to peer down into the arena with a now standing Skull. The blonde himself was forced to pull his right arm up, blocking out the light from blinding him as a loud booming male distorted voice sounded out. “She’s going to make Skull fight in the arena to pay off his debt in the real world!”

“THE FOLLOWING CONTEST IS SET FOR THREE ROUNDS! IF THE PERFORMER IS ABLE TO SURVIVE, HIS COMPANIONS WILL BE SET FREE AND THEY WILL EARN A CHANCE TO TAKE ON THE JESTER HERSELF… MS. SADAYO KAWAKAMI!” Another spotlight shone down on the shadow of Kawakami, highlighting how the frame of her body was being held up by many strings.

“IF THE PERFORMER IS UNABLE TO LAST UNTIL THE END OF THE PERFORMANCE, THEN BOTH HE AND HIS COMPANIONS WILL BE SENTENCED! NOW, ARE WE READY TO SEE A BLOODBATH?!” the distorted female voice took over, and Joker could fit the pieces together by believing that these voices are those of the guardians that took over Kawakami’s life.

Meanwhile, Skull was without a weapon and in the middle of the performing arena with nobody but shadows ready to come out and attack him. He thought back to the call he made to the maid service, the deal with Mishima… he promised that everything would be alright. With another promise now thrust upon him, that being a bloodbath, Skull took deep breath after deep breath to compose himself.

“HEY!”

The blonde shouted out, surprisingly sending the surrounding shadows into quiet murmurs. Even the voice stopped as the boy clenched his fists, looking up and at his trapped teammates.

“I want to say something before y’all come out and try to kill me. To my teammates, to these damn shadows… and to you, Kawakami. This ain’t the real you, but if I’m being honest then the shadow will do for now. I heard you up there, about what happened in the past… heh… you probably didn’t notice that everyone can hear your voice around here.” Skull raised his voice up, with Joker nodding up in the cage as everyone’s attention was on the blonde boy.

“The reason that we banded together was because we all experienced something of the same kind. One of us was called shit like a ‘whore’, and criticized because she looked slightly foreign. My best bud came into the school with everybody thinking he was this dangerous criminal. Then… I was just somebody who had been wanting to fight back for ages, yet I never had the chance because of how people viewed me. These guys never had a chance! And here we are!”

“The way you look down on us as students, or people, is something that I can’t even stand for, man. We broke through these damn barriers because that ain’t who we are, we’re just some teens trynna live a life that nobody wants us to have. That’s why we don’t want to just change your heart, but we wanna make sure that you can also live a life like the rest of us. It’s different from scumbags like Kamoshida, but you Kawakami? My friends up there can probably explain better than I ever could, prolly because they had you as a teacher and I didn’t, but you gotta realise that you ain’t like him. You’re a good teacher, one of the only ones in that school that students look up to.”

Skull wanted to keep talking, but he knew that words would eventually mean nothing when it came to fighting. In all, he was surprised that the shadows hadn’t been set on him already. Were his words actually reaching the shadow? He couldn’t tell as the strings weren’t moving Shadow Kawakami’s body whatsoever. It was only when the ground started to shake slightly, did he finally switch to some sort of fighting stance. Skull played enough video games and if he had to fight with his bare hands, so goddamn be it.

“...”

The shadow was pulled away, her back facing the arena as Joker decided to shout down towards Skull, remembering what was on the line. “Ryu-... no, Skull! Do this for your future! We believe in you!”

Joker’s words were cut off by the small gates in the arena rising up, with shadow after shadow spilling out and immediately targeting the lone phantom thief in the middle. Skull straightened out his arms and sprung into action, reaching his left hand up to tap his mask as the blue flame emerged from behind him.

“Wave the flag of rebellion! Captain Kidd!”

Captain Kidd was Skull’s Persona and he couldn’t ask for a better one. Sure, Arsene was cool, Zorro was pretty sweet and Carmen looked damn fine, however Captain Kidd represented everything Skull wished he could be. It was time to forge his reality and this was only a small part of it. He awaited for the shadows to finally transform into the demon forms the thieves were familiar with fighting, giving them time to fully rush forward as Skull used the boost from his Persona to leap up high in the air and send all of the shadows crashing into one another. The pile didn’t last for long as he threw his hands down in the air, shouting on command. “Rampage!”

The Persona rushed forward and pummeled the shadows down, leaving a few of them remaining from the mob that was once there. Skull landed perfectly on the ground and started to run circles around the shadows, biding his time and as soon as a lone one lunged towards him, he quickly jumped to the right and performed a forward roll back to his feet. With a quick turn, his hands were thrown behind him. “Mazio!”

He noticed that the lightning didn’t fully finish off most of the shadows, throwing a foot down and stomping it into the material of the arena. “And again! Mazio!” Skull shouted with pure force, his foot sending a small quake upwards as he made multiple more lightning bolts strike upwards at each of the shadows, fully knocking them out of action.

“Yes! Go, go, Skull!” Panther cheered from the cage, standing alongside Joker and Mona as they watched in anticipation. “... I didn’t know that Skull improved so much in our training sessions! He’s easily taking care of multiple shadows at once!” Mona was next to call out, even he couldn’t take his eyes off what Skull was pulling off.

As they continued to watch, Skull opted to simply use his fists and preserve valuable energy that could easily be used in a later round. He threw a punch at one shadow, punching a hole straight through it before following that up with a second hook across the face of the shadow. It still didn’t knock it down though, with Skull throwing in some of his self-made sound effects for that extra kick as he punched away and away at the shadow with no remorse. This would repeat with the addition of kicks and some more combinations only found within fighting games until all of the shadows perished, leaving a tired Skull hunched over with Captain Kidd still floating above him. The power of his Persona had made those strikes that much more powerful, to which he deduced would also be a big helping hand.

“Gimme it all…! Come on! I want all this damn smoke!” Skull had been pushed to the limit and that was only round one, evident as the gates immediately shut, signalling the end of the round. The crowd kept roaring for what was happening in the arena, prompting no reaction from Shadow Kawakami as two of her arms were pulled up.

“He got past the first round… and unfortunately, it just looks like the punishment is going to get worse off from here…” Mona spoke from above, with Joker and Panther wanting desperately to go and help their teammate out. The bars of the cage stopped that from happening as Skull got back into his own fighting stance, ready for whatever was to come next.

* * *

 

The next two rounds definitely pushed Skull to his limits.

The second round itself involved five lion-like shadows being dropped into the arena, with the objective being that Skull had to defeat all of them with nothing but his bare hands and already drained Persona. Each shadow towed some of sort of ball and chain with them, slightly restricting their movement as Skull took advantage of this with his track team experience. He ran circles around the beasts and took out two fairly easily with multiple Mazio spells as well as a Tarukaja boosted Zio. The spell that buffed his strength allowed Skull to stomp the head of another shadow as well as constantly punch and stomp a second one. It left one final beast left as Skull gave it everything he had and thrusted forward with his leg held out, smashing the boot across the face of the final beast. Another Zio finally put it down and Skull fell to the ground, using a knee to hold himself up as one final round awaited.

As blood was now once again falling down his face, Skull still hadn’t placed the mask back over his face, choosing to sick with Captain Kidd as his final opponent stood in front of him. It was a shock to both him and the rest of the group when a very familiar blue haired student was balancing on top of a huge spiked ball. Yuki Mishima had also been in debt to Kawakami and now Skull had to fight a distorted and cognitive version of his ally, evident by the clown costume that cognitive Mishima was dressed in. The spiked ball was quickly heading in Skull’s direction as he rolled out of the way, casting Zio which shocked the cognitive Mishima long enough for Skull to run to the side of the arena and lure the ball forward some more. It did just that, with the spikes crashing into the outer rim; one of them lodging itself a gap in the gates. With another boost from his Persona, he leaped upwards to where the cognitive Mishima was balancing himself and wrapped his arms around the shadow’s waist, jumping backwards for a sickening Suplex!

“Shiiiiiit!” Joker said out loud, being taken back by Skull’s sudden move. For everything that he managed to do whilst in the Metaverse, Skull might just have him beat in terms of the best stunts.

Skull looked upwards after throwing the cognitive Mishima backwards from height, sitting up as he noticed some more blood now on the back of his scalp, feeling over the marks that had just been made. He simply shrugs and gets up to his feet, placing a foot on the head of the shadow and throwing a hand forward.

“... sorry, man, this ain’t the real you at the end of the day.” Skull said. “ZIO!” With one final yell, Captain Kidd brings down a lightning bolt to completely obliterate that shadow in question. Skull raises his arms up in the air as surprisingly, the crowd erupts with cheers and he stands, exhausted, at the edge of the arena near the entrance gate. Within an instant, the cage up above suddenly disappears and the platform itself starts to slowly move towards the same edge of the performance arena. The remaining members of the group wait until they’re close enough to all leap down, landing in the arena as they all rush over towards the downed Skull. He’s in bad shape, clear from the bruises and blood on his head, even his mask was damaged as proof of his Persona taking as much of a beating as he did.

“You did it… dude… that was great.” Joker helped his friend up to his feet, giving him a pat on the shoulder as Skull nearly looked to fall backwards again if Panther and Joker both hadn't caught him. Mona looked up and around for any signs of Shadow Kawakami whilst his teammates attended to Skull. “You alright?”

“I’m good, bro. Just… urgh… at least heal me up… haha.” Skull jolted back in pain as Panther accidentally grazed the back of his head, causing her to also jolt back thinking she had made his condition worse.

“Ah! Does it hurt?!” Panther now spoke, looking over and around if any more shadows would suddenly come out. “That was extremely impressive though! I-I couldn’t even fight off all those shadows…”

“Nah… you gotta stop underestimating yourself, Panther… I mean… we all trained together… it could have been any of us thrown down here. It just so happened to be me because I had that stupid debt…” Skull was still panting as Mona noticed what was going on, deciding to speed up the process.

“We can’t stay like this for too long, everyone. Skull. Stay still.” Mona threw his arms up, summoning Zorro for the second time. There was no cage blocking the Persona’s movement now as he pointed towards the injured phantom thief. “Diarama!”

A green energy floated towards Skull and surrounded him, suddenly bringing the blonde back to top condition as he felt the blood disappear and the marks on his body fade away. Skull leapt up in the air as the healing spell finished up, sending Zorro back into the body of Mona as all of the Phantom Thieves now turned their attention to the empty arena. The roar of the crowd was still present.

“Hell yeah! We’re back, baybay!” Skull cracked his neck and his knuckles, expecting his trusty weapon of choice to be there and waiting for him, only for the blonde to remember that he had just survived three waves of shadows with just his bare hands. “... I forgot that you all have your weapons and mine got taken away from me.”

“... ever held something like this before?”

“Huh?! No!” Skull looked out in front of him, seeing Joker presenting him with one of his old daggers. It was definitely one used within Kamoshida’s Palace. Without much consideration, he took the dagger and held it upwards, performing a few slashes in the air to test it out. “... a slight overreaction, sorry ‘bout that. Heh, I guess I’m gonna be like you for a bit, eh?”

“Something like that,” Joker cracked some sort of smile, taking his newer dagger and holding it by his side. He took a few steps forward and gestured for his group to follow him along. Panther held out her spiked whip, whilst Morgana was holding his usual short sword. “Now, come on out!”

**“Kawakami!”**

…

Joker’s shout didn’t yield anybody for a moment, that is until strings fell down from above once more. With them, down came Shadow Kawakami. She was dejected, a shell of the shadow they met the first time they came to this place. However? The shadow still had a smile on their face as the strings moved their face up and down, the cackling nearly overpowering the crowd as a whole. Everything came to a standstill as the Phantom Thieves were faced with what they came here for, looking back and behind Kawakami to see the light of the treasure glimmering from a simple podium.

**“It’s showtime.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! This wasn't supposed to be such a long chapter, but there we go! All of Shadow Kawakami's fight was supposed to take place during this chapter, however I have decided to split the fight up itself and the final portion will be in Chapter 11 as well as the aftermath of what happens. Chapter 12 will be a dedicated chapter to something I can assume a fair amount of people can guess, but we'll be back on track with a certain artist for our next arc! I apologise if certain details of this chapter appear rushed, because that's mostly what I did, I'll be back to top form for the next one.
> 
> And William's group? They'll be dealing with their own issues.


	11. If You Pray Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves finally collide with Shadow Kawakami. It's a fight that will force them to work as a true team, with new techniques and bullet hell ensuing. On the other side of things, William, Robbie and Alexander get a welcome surprise at their door in the form of a mysterious woman.

* * *

**20/05/16**

**Circus of Greed**

**Evening**

* * *

 

**“It’s showtime!”**

Joker shouted what would probably become his catchphrase, I guess you could say he found it cool to say in situations like this one. Standing side by side with his Phantom Thief allies, they found themselves in the middle of the silent arena. It was once booming with volume, the shadows having thoroughly enjoyed watching Skull fight off some of their own kind through three consecutive rounds meant to punish him. The arena reflected what Sadayo Kawakami thought of Shibuya, the main area in which her acts or ‘jobs’ took place in order to pay off the debts that had been forced upon her. So, she made her own debts, placing students alike under them whilst working jobs just like the student she supposedly killed to earn even more money. Nothing was ever enough though, and after explaining her story to Joker and the others, the raven haired student could tell that Kawakami was different to Kamoshida in that she didn’t deserve what had happened to her. It was a woman who felt like she was losing it all and wanted more out of life. Different to when they first speculated that the greed was due to money, the greed…

…

… was the concept of life.

…

She was that hungry to live such a normal life that she spread a feeling of despair to others. The next generation… were supposed to live the same life as her, because if she couldn’t have a guaranteed future with no chains binding her down, nobody else deserved one. The amount of mental and even physical punishment had pushed to her that conclusion, even believing it was the moral thing to do.

Now, her shadow stood facing Joker, Skull, Mona and Panther. For the group, this would be their second battle on such a grand scale. However, this time they weren’t fighting against a teacher to ultimately expose them. They were fighting against something much bigger, and saving Kawakami would be the first step in this battle.

“... consider the debt null and void…” the shadow spoke towards Skull in particular, their cackling over and done with as silence remained in the arena. “... but now all of you have a new debt… one that I must kill you in order for it to be fulfilled…”

The distorted voice of the shadow definitely had traces of malice, but Joker couldn’t help but take notice to the obvious signs of pain in Shadow Kawakami’s voice. Her real world problems translated over to this cognitive environment, so it was no surprise there were some parts of what Kawakami was saying were things she would regret entirely. To face death was something that Joker was willing to risk. Both in this world and in the real world. There was no backing down as he felt obliged to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, each of the thieves watched as a red aura began to surround Shadow Kawakami and the arena as a whole.

“That’s right… you must all die…” Kawakami said once more, the aura now getting larger as roars in the crowd started up once more. In an instant, the aura itself exploded as Joker quickly commanded each member of his group to step backwards. They did just that, with Mona in particular stepping just one step forward further than the group. He had two missions on his mind, one was to finally seal this treasure… and another was to switch ‘Lady’ Ann’s focus onto him rather than Ren.

_… n-no! No! I can’t be thinking of that!_

Mona shook his head, looking up just in time to see the aura subside. The cognitive version of Shadow Kawakami had finally transformed into who they really are.

* * *

**Apartment 035**

**20/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

“I’ve decided to tell you all what’s been happening,” William Reed found himself saying to the two men sitting on separate couches. His arms were crossed, hair surprisingly not gelled backwards, and a black scarf wrapped around his neck over the usual white dress shirt. Reed also found the time to invest in a black beanie, which he was in the process of placing on his head. William left a large strand of hair outwards, bearing similarities to his outfit in the Metaverse. He had some sort of fascination with the powers he had obtained, so any real way to replicate that in the real world is something he would.

The week had been slow for William and his team. The cases had slowed down, they still hadn’t received any sort of contact from MI5… and William himself was getting tired of everything in general. Perhaps it was his constant travels to the place known as Mementos that tuckered him out every night since the incident, even if he went for a few minutes just to investigate distortions in the walls. William would go in the morning… then in the afternoon… and even at night. His instinct told him to ask those students who clearly had experience in that dimension… but the promise he made. William wasn’t one to break promises, despite the fact that he was already breaking it.

He boiled it down to his mood swings.

On the other hand, Robbie and Alexander thought that William had contacted some sort of illness, always coming home late at night and instantly collapsing on the sofa. It was like his bed didn’t even exist. This night was more of the same as William rubbed his eyes for a moment. He had called Alexander away from piano practice and Robbie away from his usual video game sessions, so they were expecting something big.

“Recently, I’ve encountered a… phenomenon? We’ll call it that. Yeah, a phenomenon. It was back on the 17th, with those high school students I was so damn caught up in getting information off of... “ he rubbed his head before taking his phone out of his pocket, opening it up with a simple swipe of his thumb. William navigated over to the third section of the minimal applications… the only app on there being that of the navigation application. “The new phones that headquarters supplied us with… did you guys happen to come across an application with a red and black eye icon?”

“... huh? No… I don’t think so…” Robbie was the first to speak, taking out the advanced phone he had already heavily personalised to his liking, much different to not even changing a thing when it came to Alexander’s phone or just a simple phone case swap when it came to William.

“Nah… I don’t see anything-” Robbie stopped mid-sentence, finally reaching the sole screen that had the application installed in the top left corner. The eye felt malicious, almost like it was speaking out to him. The ginger lad felt his mind was focused on that application only until William speaking up snapped him out of it. “You alright?”

“Shit, dude… you weren’t lying. Must’ve been a present from headquarters or something… like, yeah, I ain’t seen anything like it before. And I thought the switch from iOS to Android was for nothing!”

Alexander also pulled out his phone, scrolling over to where Robbie had found the application to also discover the exact same thing. A slight gasp emerged from Alexander as he turned his phone around to show William. “It seems we’re all one of the same,” the blonde looked back up to William, who was now also deep in thought, staring directly at his version of the phone provided by MI5. “What does this have to do with those high school students? You do realise that we found one of them to have previous assault charges, right?”

“Correct… and again, this seems odd… but I’ve had the chance to sit down and talk with this guy about his past. I’d like to say right now that we obviously can’t trust him fully, however, can we at least treat him like a regular high school student like with the others?” William raised his voice at the end, having remembered back to the conversation that both he and Ren had in Leblanc.

...

_“... didn’t happen…”_

_“... falsely accused…”_

_“... sent away….”_

_“... disowned…”_

…

He didn’t feel comfortable explaining the information he was told to the others, especially after all the promises he had to keep as well as those that had been broken. Then again, he was telling his colleagues and friends about this alternate dimension and…

… it hurt his brain to comprehend a lot of this stuff.

“... right… proceed on with what you were saying then.” Alexander nodded, and it was a different reaction to what William was expecting. Nevertheless, he was fine with it all. Before going on with his speech, William hesitated slightly. Would they laugh? Would they just not believe him? All the possibilities floated through his mind, but to hell with it all, they’d probably heard worse over the years.

“What if I was to tell you that there’s an entirely separate world from our own? And this application is the key to accessing it.” William said with all the confidence he could muster up, looking towards his friends and seeing the same blank expressions across their faces. Robbie was the first to blink a few times, still looking at his phone and tapping the application. It was a bunch of menu options in Japanese, that of which he tried to translate before William spoke back up.

“So? Do you believe me or not?” his voice was a lot louder now, most likely from how tired he was. Robbie and Alexander didn’t speak back, trying to take in what he said. “... I know it sounds like I’m off the chain… but I can show-”

At that moment, there was a surprising knock at the door. Three knocks to be more specific, like a melody of sorts. Despite his headache contained from once again adventuring into the other world, William felt the scarf was falling from around his neck, simply letting it fall as he approached the door and didn’t hesitate as he opened it up. He was slightly miffed that he didn’t get the chance to explain anything, but this… was quite a surprise.

The person who he faced was a woman, definitely around the same age of each agent, if not the exact same. Her hair was long and red, with it going down past her shoulders, much more than Alexander’s hair style. She wore a long sleeved black suit jacket, with the tie to boot, along with black gloves, a black skirt, and black high heels. Rising up and forgetting about what William tried to say, both Robbie and Alexander walked over to get a view of the woman.

“Oh… hell yeah!” Robbie adjusted his shirt, pulling the collar down to get some air in as the other boys all seemed happy to see this certain person. William extended his hand out, biting down on his bottom lip as the woman accepted it.

“And I thought you wouldn’t get here until next week, finally stopped being lazy, eh?” William said, leading the woman inside as Alexander was already making his way over towards the kitchen. “Is all this necessary though? The suit, the tie and the heels… how many lads were looking at you in the streets?”

“I got a car here… sheesh, as if any of them would even get a second…” the woman said, deciding to keep the attire on whilst taking off her heels to leave them by the door. “Adam finally got his arse up and off his computer to drive me into the city. You guys have a spare bedroom right?”

All the boys looked towards each other, with Alexander stopping the task of pouring a glass of white wine. Robbie shrugged his shoulders, not speaking and leaving it over to William once more. He sighed, completely forgetting that she was coming over to stay for the time being.

The woman who had just arrived was Florence Westbrook, originally studying Drama over in the United Kingdom with the dream of becoming a globally recognised actress. Along with William, Robbie, Alexander and three others, she was brought into MI5 following a mysterious test carried out when all of the group were 16 years old. They were forced to leave their family behind to serve their country, and for Florence, it was hard. She was part of a large family, always supportive and always helping. It was what it was. Unlike William, Robbie and Alexander, her main base of operations were in the outskirts of Tokyo, unlike the inner city to which the three boys were operating in. If William wasn’t leading the entire group, then Florence could definitely take that role. She was unforgiving and didn’t let her appearance fool others. As part of her quartet, Florence led them on various raids, even working with the Japanese police on several occasions, keeping their identities a secret whilst using those back at headquarters to prove to the law officials that they had the power, even in another country.

Then, like the others, all contact with MI5 was lost after a recall resulting in new phones being handed out to each member, meant for greater communication… which couldn’t be utilised when the agency can’t even bothered to contact you. William then had an idea spring to mind, pulling out his phone before realising what Florence had asked of them.

“... you can use my room, I’ve been sleeping on the couch for the past few days anyway.” William muttered before opening his phone up as Florence walked over to grab the glass of wine Alexander had poured for her. She lifted it up for a sip, with her eyebrows raising as William showed off his phone, also proceeding to wrap the black scarf around his neck again. “Before you arrived, I asked Rob and Alex whether they had this certain application on their new phones… can you confirm that you also have seen this red and black eye?”

It didn’t even take long for Florence to place the glass down, acting as if it were any other random question. “Mhm. Saw something like that the first day we got them.”

“Wait? You DID?!” William overreacted just a little bit, calming down almost instantly as he shook his head before continuing and looking to ask another important question. “Sorry… sorry, but do you know how to use it? I was just getting onto-”

“Nope. Not a clue,” Florence said, taking another sip of the wine before deciding to walk over towards the corridor which held the three rooms in which the boys stayed in. “Whilst you all can continue to talk about whatever, I need to rest… and get used to my new living conditions for the next month.”

“You’re here for a month… I mean, fuck… fine! Fine!” William had already dealt with too much today, nearly throwing his phone over towards his new bed… the couch, and throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “... you can guys can head off to bed or file reports, just… I’ll tell you what I was going to say tomorrow…”

“... if you say so.” Alexander was the first to leave, but not before getting another glass out from a cabinet and pouring himself a separate glass of white wine. He holds the glass in one hand and his phone now in the other, scrolling across to the mysterious application and looking at it all the way to his room.

“... yeah, I’ll be online if you wanna play some Overwatch, laters!” Robbie shouted out and hurried back down to his room, not realising that William would have no access to his room and therefore no access to his console, also pulling his phone out and shaking his head at the application. William saw both of them clearly intrigued, so perhaps his words were getting through? Who knew. All that William wanted was to crash for the night on the couch.

So that’s what he did, scarf, beanie and all.

* * *

 

The transformation wasn’t all that special, however, what the other Kawakami became was a sight to behold. Joker was the one to pinpoint what had exactly changed about her. There were no strings attached to her, instead now her entire body was made out of wood, resembling a gimmick puppet. Her poorly drawn eyes were now a blood red, with her hair representing scrap paper of sorts that looked burnt. Carrying Shadow Kawakami in the air were what looked to be wings, although they once again resembled something similar to paper. Her body was a mixture of brown and green, a darkened green to be more specific. Her head jolted to the side as she flew high above the arena and threw her arms outwards, creating another shake around the arena until the same long and gigantic commanding arms emerged from behind the curtain that originally forced the Phantom Thieves to retreat.

The puppeteer's arms, to say. And if Joker had to make a guess on who they represented, he would guess on the guardians who were holding Kawakami in debt. He kept a mental note to ask for their names after they were finished with changing Kawakami’s heart, especially if his crafted plan would ultimately succeed. For now? They had a long fight ahead of them.

“Everybody! Split off into different directions!” Joker shouted, throwing his arms out as the team listened to him, with Skull running off and around the left side of the arena, Mona scurrying to the right side, Panther running backwards to the gate, and Joker running straight on at the giant shadow herself. “Jack Frost!”

With a leap forward, Joker holds his hand up to the white mask and unleashes one of his newest Personas. As he flies upwards as far as his legs will take him, Joker throws his hands forward as Jack Frost follows him through the air. “Bufu! Take them!” he shouts as the Persona sends out a barrage of ice towards the gimmick puppet, with the move itself not seeming to do anything apart from freeze small parts of the shadow’s body. An idea then comes to Joker’s head, shouting over towards Panther behind him, to which the shadow begins moving towards.

“Panther! Use your fire!” Joker rolls through on the arena floor, running towards Panther herself as Shadow Kawakami approaches at a fast pace. “NOW!”

“Right! Carmen!” Panther herself starts to run forward, but not before grabbing her mask and summoning her unique Persona in Carmen, the two meeting the shadow in the middle as they leap up into the air at the same time.

“Bufu!”

“Agi!”

The combined fire and ice strike strikes Shadow Kawakami from two directions, ultimately stunning the shadow for a moment as it isn’t long before they recover. Kawakami lets out a yell as Joker runs over to Panther in an instant. “Stay close… stay close… we need Skull and Mona to-”

Joker suddenly turns around to see a whole barrage of strings flying out of the hands of Kawakami, propelling full force at the pair as the leader makes the bold decision to push Panther away and take the entire attack straight to the body, with Jack Frost acting as an extra barrier to weaken the damage. The Persona disappears and the mask reappears on Joker as he gets up to a knee, already panting as Panther observes from a slight distance in horror as more strings are fired at him once more.

“Re- Joker!” Panther yells out, attempting to return the favour with the strings rapidly approaching. It’s only then when a thunderbolt comes down from the sky, striking the shadow on the head and sending the string bullet hell off towards another direction. Meanwhile, Joker himself stood back up, his coat now torn in various places.

“Back over here!” Skull now shouted, gaining the attention of Kawakami as the shadow charged out of the air and down towards the place in the arena where Skull was positioned. In an instant, Skull ran and rolled to the side to send the assault dive attempt straight into one of the walls. “Son of a bitch… take this!”

Skull thrusts his hands forward, cupping them as a ball of electricity was forming within them. He was charging up some sort of Zio-esque technique, literally like a Kamehameha, lining up Shadow Kawakami and firing the beam forward. Unfortunately, the beam misses completely as Kawakami takes it head on, with no damage being caused as she charges forward with an arm held out as it thwacks Skull to send him up in the air and back to the arena floor. “Perish… perish… perish!”

A much thicker string was thrown forward out of Kawakami’s body, acting as a rope and wrapping itself around the right ankle of Skull. As the shadow flew up higher into the air, it took Skull with him as he soon realised the situation he was in. “... holy fuck! Hey, HEY! **GUUUYS!** ”

His pleas reached the Phantom Thieves below him, one in particular as Mona had already summoned Zorro in a separate part of the arena. The feline dashed forward and jumped upwards, casting a Garu spell to attempt to loosen the ropes. Instead, Skull was flinged faster around in the air, sending him into a dizzy state as Mona perfectly landed, a slight bit of regret with what he did. “Skull! Didn’t Joker give you a-”

“Yeah…! YEAH! THAT’S IT!” Skull had to get his voice heard, shouting as loud as he could whilst reaching into his jacket and pulling out the knife he had put away. As his head was inching closer to another wall of the arena, he first thrust the knife upwards into the back of the shadow before beginning to cut away the rope that held him in the air. The shadow yelled out in pain, with the wooden material of the shadow’s body not even being enough for the sheer strength Skull had in the Metaverse. “C’mon…! C’mon…!”

“Captain Kidd! Lunge!” Skull had cut away most of the rope with the knife before it fell from his grasp and he relied on the limited power of his Persona, having used a majority of it to create that electrical beam that missed earlier. Captain Kidd lunged forward as per the move name, striking Kawakami to finally let Skull go…

… the only problem is that Skull was very high up in the air.

“ **MONA!** ” Coming from across the arena, Joker saw the body of his friend quickly falling down that would have resulted in more than a few bruises, the shadow distracted for now. He didn’t want to leave any loose ends though and raised a hand up to Panther before throwing it forward, giving the attack signal. “Come! Matador!”

“Garudyne!” Joker shouted, jumping upwards as the wind stream from Matador caught Skull in the air, taking him downwards slightly as the spell dispersed, not being powerful enough. Mona knew what he had to do as Panther had casted another Agi spell at Shadow Kawakami, giving them a smoke screen to act and save Skull from a bad landing. “Zorro! Garudyne!”

The final wind stream was cast in Skull’s direction, guiding him closer to the arena floor, just not far enough for a safe landing as Skull smacked face first into the arena itself. His Persona disappeared, with Skull still having enough fight in him to clamber up to his feet. The blonde felt footsteps approaching him and a hand on his shoulder, revealing Joker to his side.

“That was a close one... you need any healing?” Joker helped his friend up, reaching a hand up to his mask with Skull already in pretty bad shape. On the other side, both Mona and Panther were using their Personas and weapons to fend off Shadow Kawakami. The gimmick puppet was gaining the advantage, attracting the attention from Skull as he shook his head and pushed Joker away. He didn’t say anything before Joker turned to him, hand readjusting the glove on his right hand, the skin showing cuts and bruises. “... our technique, the one we worked on in Mementos.”

“Are we sure that’s going to work? She ain’t even grounded.” Skull wiped a speck of blood from his mouth, before looking forward to see that Mona was thrown backwards by a set of strings emerging from the shadow. All this time, the long puppeteer arms simply mimicked what Kawakami’s arms were doing, staying high up in the air so that the Phantom Thieves couldn’t reach them. Joker looked up to them for a second before seeing who Kawakami was targeting after Mona, seeing more strings heading in Panther’s direction as she had nearly exhausted her Persona. “Shit… shit! We gotta move!”

“No! Now’s the time! If we unleash the technique behind her, she won’t suspect a thing! Then, we can rush in for the finishing blow!” Skull lifted a hand up to his mask, getting Joker’s attention away from the shadow and Panther. In that moment, Joker had to let her get pushed down, but it’d pay off… it had to. The strings hit Panther and nearly pinned her up against the far wall of the arena. The leader knew what he had to do, nodding to Skull.

“NOW!” it was only for nearly a millisecond, but a familiar yellow glint passed over both the boys’ eyes. Skull had shown off part of the technique earlier and now with Joker, it could be fully completed and used to its full capability.

**“Arsene!”**

**“Captain Kidd!”**

Arsene was still refreshed, and Captain Kidd was nearly out of power entirely. Together, Skull and Joker were going to unload it all into this technique. They raised their arms to the side together, both building up energy in their hands. Skull once again had the ball of electricity, whilst Joker was building a crimson mixture of sorts in his hands. With the power of their Personas transferring into this energy, the boys threw their arms up, with the energy merging into one combined large ball. It continued to build up, with the shadow’s back still turned as it plunged another string forward to wrap around Panther’s neck. Joker got a good view of this, feeling his entire mind switch into something completely.

With the ball now fairly large, the energy exerting out all over the arena, Joker was left to carry the energy by himself. Skull was starting to run forward as fast as his legs would take him, Captain Kidd always behind him. Joker leaped up into the air with the power of Arsene, swinging a leg forward to kick the ball of energy forwards. With a new skip in his step, Ryuji bent his knees down and sprung up into the air, Captain Kidd giving him that extra boost as he threw both feet forward, driving them into the energy as it thrust forward at a blinding pace into the back of Shadow Kawakami!

Curse and Zio combined, it was what loosened Kawakami’s grip on Panther as the shadow immediately fell back to the arena floor. Panther herself reached up to her throat, coughing a few times as her own outfit was now showing battle damage. This wasn’t the time to summon her Persona though, seeing Joker and Skull running forward with what they had left, guns now by their side. Panther reached down, drawing the two submachine guns that had been firmly secured to the holster around her waist.

“On my mark!” Joker had his handgun prepared, running alongside Skull and leaping up in the air as the other two proceeded to follow. Mona, on the other hand, was left with a much different task, simply deciding to stand back and watch the chaos.

…

“Three…”

Joker cocked back the gun, Skull spun his shotgun around and perfectly aimed for the head of the shadow.

“Two…”

Time was definitely moving slower than they all thought. Panther positioned the two guns down towards the chest of the shadow, closing one eye to get a better sight.

“One…”

…

“ **... FIRE!** ”

They unleashed every single bullet they could into Shadow Kawakami. Joker emptied out his bullets all over the frame of the shadow, with no specific place in mind, however, he made sure that every single shot counted. Skull fired shot after shot through the head of Kawakami, not bothering to make sure every shot was connecting, instead making sure his gun at least had a chance to land its bullets. Panther was spraying her gunfire all over the place, mainly catching Kawakami across the chest, with various shots also putting holes in her arms and legs. The study frame and material definitely doesn’t help Kawakami out in this situation, with bullet hole after bullet hole forming before all of the thieves began to run out of bullets. The first to drop down was Panther, sliding the two submachine guns back into their holsters. Next, Skull slid the shotgun back underneath his jacket and within a holster he had managed to build himself, it was quite impressive for his standards. Joker was the last one, sliding his handgun back into his waist holster, falling backwards in near exhaustion.

Skull looked up at the fallen frame that was the shadow, as it quickly transformed back into the original body of Kawakami. They thought they won, with Skull raising his arms upwards. “Dude… we did it… we did-”

It was then that Joker was the one to realise the puppeteer arms still existed. They took on a mind of their own, with the right arm throwing itself forward and grabbing Skull within its hand. The left arm was quick to act, grabbing Panther and pulling her up into the air, her screams echoing all throughout the arena as Joker and Mona were immediately alerted to this. “Joker…! Joker…! **JOKER!** ”

His code name, repeated over and over again as all Joker could do was grab the red gloves around his hands and pull them straight off, exposing the damaged skin fully. Mona tried to cast some sort of wind spell, but nothing could reach the puppeteers arms. They squeezed the life out of both Panther and Skull, holding them tight, nearly in front of Joker’s face as he panted and panted.

“... this is what you all deserve,” a voice sounded out, it was Shadow Kawakami, clearly still a shell of what she once was. Joker figured that some of her personality will have changed from the main frame being taken down, but the arms that held his teammates held Kawakami back from finally realising that she needed to fight back. “These arms represent those who have power over me, over you… over everybody. I told you that nothing could be done… nobody could fight back!”

…

“Nobody could… and nobody can…”

…

The cries of pain from his teammates. His best friend… his…

…

…

  
**“NO!”**

The rage was building back up in Joker, his bare fists clenched together. If he had no energy left to give, then the frustrations of being told that nothing could be done gave him more to fight with. Joker looked up for a moment, then… his eyes flashed yellow, a flashback triggering in his mind.

He saw Igor. The mysterious man who had granted him these powers, supposedly. The keeper of the Velvet Room. From getting constantly berated by Caroline and Justine, there were a few exchanges between himself and Igor that stood out. One of them was now especially sticking in his mind, that of the concept of fusing Personas together. He knew that the execution-esque method to fuse them together was rather grim, but eh, he’d seen worse in movies. There was one detail that Igor told him, about fusing Personas not in the Velvet Room…

… but outside of the room.

…

…

“... leader?”

The voice of Mona snapped him back to reality as Joker took a few steps forward, saying nothing as the arms continued to taunt him. In an instant, Joker took off his mask and threw it forward, along with throwing his right arm outwards as a blue arcana circle formed at his feet. From one mask, spawned two, and they all represented a different Persona that Joker currently held.

_Eligor… Archangel…_

Joker threw his right arm upwards, a selection of blue flames spawning from his hand as they took the form of a blue tinted guillotine. Within an instant, the guillotine blade dropped and crushed both masks, the tarot cards spewing into the blue flames as they emerged into and behind Joker himself.

“Wha..?! Woah…!” Mona could only look on in amazement, seeing the spectacle in front of him as Joker had a brand new Persona now stood behind him. Shiki-Ouji was now part of Joker’s compendium, its large figure giving the leader the power he needed to fight back. To do what Kawakami couldn’t. He took both of his hands, throwing them forward like finger guns and flashing that traditional smirk.

**“Snap. Snap.”**

A hail of bullets was shot out by the Persona, propelling upwards as Joker kept them coming, realising that all of his remaining health and energy were being put into these shots. They had to count…! And they were going to count! He walked forward, the gunfire becoming more prominent as his body was soon going to give out. Joker kept firing though, until the arms finally dropped slightly to let go of both Panther and Skull.

He raised an arm up behind him, signalling for Mona to act. “... Garudyne!” the feline called out, bringing Skull and Panther down to a reasonable enough height for them to fall down to the ground. Joker still didn’t give them any attention, continuing to fire bullets from his Persona as they pierced the arms. After a final shot, Joker stopped, breathing heavily and falling down to a knee. He lifted a hand up, calling for one final move.

  
“... change! Arsene!”

Joker reached down for his trusty dagger, pulling the sharp object outwards, seeing one of the arms in full view as he clutched the knife in his right hand. The raven haired boy closed his eyes, with the rest of his team watching on as the mere unthinkable happened…

… because the dagger was starting to absorb some of the Curse energy.

He jumped up, holding the knife outwards and slashing across the right arm, completely tearing through the material of the arm, replacing it with a dark void instead as it almost stumbled and fully fell down to the arena floor with a rather large thud. Joker wanted to do one more thing, one more thing to seal the deal and break the hold the higher-ups had on Kawakami.

**“TEAM! All Out Attack!”**

**“RIGHT!”**

Despite the fact that they were all beyond exhausted, the group felt the energy from their leader, all rushing forward and leaping upwards into the air. Each one of them started to beat the living hell out of the stunned arms, and within seconds, all that was left was the black void that made up the cognition. All this time, the main body of Shadow Kawakami watched on with a blank expression, but right after they took down the puppeteer for good, the shadow… smiled.

A legitimate smile.

* * *

 

The dust finally settled. The Phantom Thieves had won, with Mona making sure that they had collected the treasure before walking back towards Shadow Kawakami. It hurt all of them to move their legs, and considering what they had just went through, it was perfectly reasonable to have that feeling. Joker especially, needed help even getting over towards where the shadow was kneeling down in shame. It was a combined effort from Panther and Ryuji, who both took an arm, carrying him over as he finally nodded to tell them that he was okay to stand on his own two feet. Kawakami then stood up herself, looking away from the group at first as she mumbled something to herself.

“Fight back.” a voice came from behind the shadow as she twisted around. Joker managed to keep some sort of smile, even through his damaged state. “You want to fight back against society just like we do. Please, just… admit to what you did wrong. And for the guardians of Takase-san… let us deal with them. From all of us, we promise they’ll never bother you again.”

…

A silence. Nobody spoke, not even the shadow.

…

“... you’re right. All this time, I’ve been so… weak. I blamed myself for Takase’s death, all because his guardians manipulated the situation to benefit themselves. I didn’t want to fight back because I didn’t have a reason. Society itself was turning against me and… I-I just couldn’t. They scared me… the principal scared me…” Kawakami’s voice was full of despair, regret, yet, hope. She looked up to the group, a slight tear rolling down her cheek. To see a shadow showing emotion like this, it definitely touched Joker. “Who knows? The other me back in the real world might not even have a job anymore. I-It honestly doesn’t matter… for all the wrong I’ve done to these poor students of Shujin… I don’t deserve a job anymore. I don’t deserve to show my face to them after what I did.”

“Remember what I said… we will deal with the guardians, we will change their way of thinking. You don’t have to quit what you’re passionate about, please, just trust in me… trust in us and our code.” Joker was reassuring, looking towards his team who all shared the same feelings as him.

“... Ms. Kawakami. We mean it, we really do! You can be such an inspiration to these students!” Panther said, knowing Kawakami from her and Joker’s homeroom class.

…

Another period of silence.

“I will trust what you say, but I want to make one thing clear to who you’ll be up against if you decide to continue rebelling against society.” Kawakami finally said, turning her back to the group as her shadow started showing signs of disappearing, along with the rest of the crowd who became near transparent.

“There’s a group bigger than me, bigger than the school… potentially bigger than the city. A conspiracy, with some of the most influential figures being part of it all. My knowledge of this group is rather skim apart from overhearing one or two conversations. They’re extremely powerful and they plan to turn the nation into their own personal playground… so please, stay away and continue to live your lives as good, honourable students…”

…

“... stay out of trouble, please.”

…

She turned to the group, smiling, finally. At this point, she was basically invisible, only her voice carrying through the air as the others looked on. “And thank you, I truly know what life means thanks to all of you.”

* * *

 

The palace collapsed soon after Kawakami’s shadow fully disappeared, with Mona handing the treasure off to Joker. Mona became the Mona-Bus soon after and it was quick getaway for the Phantom Thieves, leaving them in the middle of Shibuya when they emerged from the Metaverse. Ryuji was on the floor, attracting some attention towards the group whilst Ren and Ann simply dusted themselves down, Morgana perched on a bench to which Ryuji pulled himself up onto, playing his appearance on the ground as some sort of accident. Each member of the group was beyond tired, especially Ren, as he brushed a hand through his hair and nearly fell backwards all together.

That would have been the case if Ann hadn't caught him.

“We’re fine… we did it.” Ann said, lifting Ren back up and onto the bench next to Ryuji. The boys shared a high five, managing a smile through the pain and fatigue. “Hell yeah, bro… we fucking smashed it…” Ryuji spoke, finally lifting himself up off the bench and punching upwards into the air.

“Another one in the bag…!” It was then when Ryuji had to stretch… quite far, nearly knocking Ann with his left arm, causing her to pout and smack down on his shoulder.

“Watch it!” Ann added an extra smack, looking down to see that Ren was now sitting up, his hand over his knees as a genuine smile filled his face. It was moments like these that sometimes made Ann recount all the times she’s dreamt about him in the past week or so. Yes, she’s been dreaming. Guilty as charged. After some more conversing between the group, they agreed that it would be better if they caught up tomorrow or over text message in the group chat. The fight in the Metaverse had fully tuckered the entire group out, Mona included, who was constantly telling Ren that he needed to go to sleep as soon as he got back to Leblanc.

Ren did not go to sleep. He had somebody messaging him.

* * *

 

**(1) new message from: Ann**

**Ann: heyyyyy**

**Ren: can’t sleep either?**

**Ann: you’re soo good at guessing!**

**Ann: but yeah, i’ve been tossing and turning ever since shiho left**

**Ren: oh? she visited?**

**Ann: yeah!! i was rly rly tired, but talking to her made me feel a lot better!**

**Ren: that’s good. as long as you’re happy. :)**

**…**

**Ann: mhm :)**

**Ann: we talked about a lot of things before she had to go**

**Ann: so**

**Ann; um**

**Ren: you alright?**

**Ann: tomorrow… can we meet on the rooftop?**

**Ann: it’ll be me, you and shiho**

**Ren: of course.**

**Ren: I think it’ll be great to catch up with her.**

**Ren: we can talk to Ryuji at lunch about what happened today.**

**Ann: that’s fine**

**Ann: but there’s something else i need to tell you tomorrow.**

**…**

**Ren: there is?**

**…**

**Ann: yeah**

**…**

**Ann: i’ve been meaning to tell you for a bit now**

**…**

**Ann: but there’s no time like the present, right?**

**…**

**Ren: absolutely.**

**....**

Well, there she goes.

Her decision was **final.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this chapter out a lot quicker than previous ones, which was quite a surprise to even myself. I hope everybody reading enjoyed my interpretation of Kawakami's Palace, but don't count her out yet, as she'll be playing a bigger role in the series than I initially thought! The next chapter is nearly here and hoo boy, be prepared for an entire chapter dedicated to our first confession.
> 
> ... I mean, there was no point hiding it, right? :P


	12. Something About Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's love in the air as Ann makes her decision on explaining her feelings towards Ren, the boy she fell for since day one. With the addition of a recovered Shiho, a bombshell is dropped on the rooftop of Shujin Academy. Meanwhile, William still looks to explain the Metaverse to his colleagues whilst the arrival of a new member might prove it to be even more tricky.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**21/05/16**

* * *

 

…

…

“... urgh… what time is it…?”

The agent awoke from his slumber, his legs nearly falling over the side of the couch that was now his bed for the time being. William took the blanket wrapped around most of his body, tossing it to the floor with quite some force. It wasn’t the first time he had woken from laying on the couch, wanting the pleasure of his room back… which wouldn’t be the case for a fair amount of time because somebody had to be the damn gentleman in the home. Driving a hand up and through his scruffy hair, William nearly rolled over and onto the floor itself, barely missing by throwing a hand out to grab the side of a nearby table. He couldn’t remember a single thing about falling asleep, all he remembered was…

“... my phone.” he groggily said, reaching over to the floor as the Meta-Nav application was somehow still open.

“I should go to the Metaverse today…” William scooped up his phone, taking it up and onto his chest as his eyes peered up, catching the sight of familiar red hair. It flowed onto the top of the couch itself, nearly making the lad jump as his phone met the floor for the second time.

“You’ve been asleep for most of the morning, are you okay?” Florence spoke over him, as monotone as ever. “And what’s this ‘Metaverse’ you speak of? I’m assuming some sort of club that all three of you have visited.”

“... no? Do you think of me as that kind of person?”

“I do.”

Feeling slightly more energised, William hopped up off the couch to stretch his arms out. Most of the buttons on William’s white shirt had come undone in the night, exposing the top half of his chest. Of course, he didn’t exactly care though, undoing the rest of the buttons to fully take off his shirt, throwing it across the room and towards the laundry area. The agent cracked his neck a few times before turning to Florence, who was out of her suit and now simply in a black ‘Stranger Things’ shirt, along with a pair of short shorts.

After a second of realisation, William looked away, hands behind his head. “Um… you don’t happen to have a shirt, do you?”

“The fact that this is only the beginning does worry me,” Florence shrugged, walking over towards the opposite couch, catching the remote for the TV on the way. She threw herself over and turned the television on, not bothering to say anything else to William apart from a mischievous smile.

William slumped away, catching his scarf on the way to wrap around the top half of his chest. It was a small blessing in disguise as Robbie turned the corner, yawning whilst stretching, nearly bumping into William on the way.

“ **Please** , get a fuckin’ shirt on.”

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**21/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

The rooftop of Shujin was quiet, always quiet. That would’ve been the case only two months ago, before Ren Amamiya arrived at the school and formed the Phantom Thieves. Seeing their former hideout gave Ren a slight bit of deja-vu, pushing through the set of double doors before twisting around to hold them both open. Coming slowly up the stairwell was Ann and Shiho, the latter having not attended school ever since the major incidents involving Kamoshida. Shiho had been happy to know that Kamoshida had confessed to his own crimes and was now sitting imprisoned, unlikely to set foot in Shujin or a school ever again. Ann helped her friend up step by step, who was using a single crutch on her right side as a result of the accident, with Shiho eventually making it to the set of doors.

“Let me help... “ Ren used his right foot to keep one of the doors wide open, whilst making sure that Shiho wasn’t going to fall at all. Ann let him fully take over as she took the other door. For a moment, she felt herself absorbed in how Ren was just so helpful once again. Always looking out for others, sometimes it even felt like he cared about others over himself. Either way, she could tell him everything today and there was no going back.

It was only last night than Ann and Shiho met up for the first time outside of the hospital. Despite the fact that Ann was completely out of it from having finally changed the heart of Sadayo Kawakami in the Metaverse, the sight of Shiho out of hospital brought her all sorts of newfound energy. This was also when Ann had confessed to Shiho that yes, she had the hots for Ren Amamiya. Even if the phone call from the same morning wasn’t enough confirmation, Ann spilled it all to her best friend, receiving some confidence from Shiho to finally just ask him out. There was still some doubt within her though, along with the fact that Shiho said that she had something to tell both her and Ren tomorrow.

Tomorrow was now, and she’d throw it all away to be in bed with nothing to do apart from sleep.

“Ann… Ren… thank you… thank you both,” Shiho started to say, using the crutch to make her way over towards the same edge in which she had jumped from. It brought back all the worst memories for all three students on the rooftop. “In actuality, I wanted to come back up here in order to let go of what made me… y’know… do what I did.”

“Don’t think about it too much, alright? Kamoshida was a horrible, horrible person… what he did to you was unfortunately out of your power… I hate to say that but…” Ren walked over, leaning up against the fence by Shiho. He saw her lean forward, fingers wrapped around a part of the fence.

“... I know, Ren, I know… but I have to let go, only then will it be fine to come back up here and look at this place with no bad thoughts. When I was being abused by Mr. Kamoshida, life just… sucked, it was awful. In those brief moments beforehand, I just wanted to escape… get away from everything…” Shiho let go of her grip, turning around to face Ann, who had yet to join the two by the edge.

“... but I forgot the most important thing I had in this world. My friends… and Ann in particular. It’s a shame that we never got the chance to fully talk, Ren.... because I’ve heard all the lovely things about you from Ann-” she continued, being interrupted as Ann jogged forward, nearly tackling Shiho with an embrace from behind.

“Stooooop… you’re too nice!” Ann said, looking over towards Ren, releasing her grasp and positioning herself in the middle of the two. It felt weird. To her left, her best friend. To her right… her crush. Ann wanted to treasure this moment as much as possible, anybody would have if they were in her shoes.

“It’s cool, honestly… heh, I mean, to counteract what you said, I’ve heard a lot of things about you from Ann.” Ren leaned forward, looking at Shiho and then at Ann again, winking as she started to blush ever so slightly. The tease that was Ren Amamiya! “You’re strong though, you and Ann. I’m happy to have been part of what helped get rid of Kamoshida for good.”

“Ren... “ Ann’s blush still didn’t disappear, as much as she would have wanted it to. “... we all played a part in that. I just don’t know what it was about you, but you rounded us all together and gave us that hope, that confidence to finally push away and fight back.”

Ren stopped leaning, looking back to the lone table and set of chairs that he fondly remembered setting up their first heist with Morgana and Ryuji. As for those two? Ryuji had presumably already left for the day, whilst he had told Morgana to head back to Leblanc as this conversation was private for a reason. He didn’t need that feline’s obsession with Ann to come into play during this certain time.

A second of silence felt like a minute. The small breeze came by, affecting Ren’s fuzzy hair as he felt a strand fall over his forehead. He pushed up the hair, looking back towards Ann who had one of the biggest smiles on her face. Ann herself was deep in thought, rehearsing in her head what she wanted to say to Ren. It was only when Ren spoke again did her thoughts break, snapping Ann back to reality.

“... Am I right to assume that you’ll be starting school again when you feel better, Shiho? You can share my notes if catching up gets a bit too much.” Ren leaned forward once more, now looking at Shiho as she was intently staring down at the ground, a small sense of despair filling her as Ren was one to notice. “Shiho? You’re looking slightly pale… do you need us to take you back?”

“No… no, I feel fine… well, apart from something that I was planning on telling you ever since last week. That’s more so aimed at Ann, but I feel that you also need to hear this, Ren…” Shiho stuttered slightly, falling back as her grip tightened around the fence before letting go. She looked up and towards the sky. It was still quite bright outside, albeit a bit cloudy.

…

Shiho sighed, feeling both students now looking straight at her.

“T-The truth is… as of this week, my family has decided that it would be better if I started attending a different school… outside of Tokyo. I-I’m **moving away** …” Shiho blurted out, making it through her words as Ren’s eyebrows raised. His main concern was looking to his left, seeing Ann with her mouth agape. She seemed close to tearing up, but the shock of it all somehow stopped the tears from flowing.

...

“S-S-Shiho… w-why didn’t you tell me about this…? It’s just…” Ann started, feeling arms wrap her around her waist as Shiho pulled her in. Ren just watched, trying to give the two the room they needed as he didn’t feel he was a full part of the current situation.

“I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I didn’t want to send you off to sleep with that thought in mind. I didn’t want you to be alone when I told you this, especially considering what you had told me earlier....” Shiho was able to giggle through this, and even Ann knew this, sniffling whilst her best friend consoled her. She looked up, seeing the teary eyes of Shiho along with the joking smile. Shiho was looking over at Ren, who accidently blankly stared back.

Ren knew he wasn’t the greatest when it came to this type of stuff.

“... the positive at least is that I’ve got a week left… a-and you’ll still be able to talk to me! I’ll text and call you whenever I can, because Ann… you’re my best friend, a-and I wouldn’t want to lose that connection we have with each other.” Shiho tightened the embrace, feeling some tears drop on her.

Again, Ren was just standing there, now pulling out his phone to distract himself.

_… no, no! He couldn’t..._

_… Ann was crying. He couldn’t ignore that._

“I want you to know that you should keep chasing your dreams, and one day, you’ll be the greatest model in the world!” Shiho lifted Ann’s face up, with Ann herself still haven’t not spoken, proceeding to once again hug Shiho. She didn’t want to let go of Shiho, but that last statement made her back away, with Shiho wiping some of Ann’s tears off her face. In that moment before Ann could speak, Ren walked over, hands in his pockets, standing right beside the two.

“... it’s hard to let go… trust me, I know. You know as well, remember the one night I told you how the hell I ended up here? To let go of a place, of a family… even if they completely turned their backs on you. The difference here is that Shiho will always be here for you, Ann.” Ren spoke with sincerity, a lot more softly spoken that what he would act like as Joker, his alter ego. “And well... “

He hesitated.

…

“... I’ll be here for you, **always**.”

Ann looked up at him, her eyes still teary as her instinct told her to do one thing and one thing only. After holding onto Shiho for so long, she let go and dove towards Ren, wrapping her arms around his waist to rest her head against his chest. Ren? He was quite surprised at this, but in the moment, this was the best thing to do. Shiho could see that the two should be left alone, because she knew Ann’s feelings. She walked up to Ren, then leaned towards Ann, who looked up at Shiho whilst realising where her arms were. It didn’t matter though, she just wanted to be held by somebody.

“Shiho…”

“Yes?”

“I-I’ll do it! I-I’m going to try my best and not be weak anymore! E-every time I’m out there, and every time I tell myself I can’t do anything… I’ll think of y-you, because… I want the best for you too. I want you to promise me that you’ll always be by my side!” Ann felt a lot happier, seeing Shiho hold a hand up to her heart, even blushing ever so slightly.

“I knew you’d understand… but I’m sorry for not telling you, again… it’s my fault that you’re like this.”

Ann was quick to speak up again, slightly breaking her grasp of Ren. The boy was hiding a blush of his own, and with a simple look between himself and Shiho, they both knew that everything was going to be okay. Shiho could also tell that Ren had to share similar feelings towards Ann. He was going to be just perfect for her.

“No, it isn’t your fault… not at all. You know that I overreact to stuff like this.” Ann let go completely, she felt better now. There was just a slight longing to hold Ren for just that little bit longer. “Really, it’s fine. Wherever you’ll be… I’ll support you.”

Shiho smiled once more, then pulled out her phone to check something. Her mouth gasped for a moment, both Ren and Ann looking quite confused and concerned at the same time. Ren could detect the poor acting from a mile away, as if Ann wasn’t enough to handle when it came to that category, but hey, it was part of her charm to him. On the other hand, Ann wanted to ask what was going on until Shiho cut in.

“Oh! Looks like I’ve overstayed my welcome…! Haha… my parents need me back home to fix up some things. I’ll leave you two to it then.” Shiho quickly said, using her crutch to hobble away, with Ren and Ann both coming in to assist her to the stairs.

Now, it was moments after Shiho had said everything was alright and she could head home herself. It solely left Ren and Ann on the rooftop, carrying a silence between them as they headed back up to the rail. Ren leaned forward, taking in the view as Ann stood besides him. They were waiting for the other to speak, which is when Ren decided it would be him.

“... she’s strong, really strong. You’re lucky to have her as your best friend.” Ren turned to Ann, a smile on his face. Ann paused as she continued to look outwards.

“Mhm. I wish that I could be as strong as Shiho. It was her as my inspiration that took me through finally getting rid of Kamoshida. Every single day in the hospital… every day I saw her in pain… I thought of what he did, and I wanted him dead. After my powers awakened, there was a promise to myself that I’d burn that pervert until nothing remained…”

She hesitated again, looking down at her hands and then over at Ren.

“... you guys taught me that there are fates worse than death. We’re all facing it head on as part of the Phantom Thieves, and as for Kamoshida… we made him confess and he’s out of our lives. I just want to t-thank you, for real.” Ann walked closer to Ren, with the latter not knowing what to expect as he felt another embrace coming. The two joined together as Ann didn’t want to let go.

Ren returned it, feeling a much deeper connection with his female companion. He just hoped nobody was watching.

…

It was only after a few seconds did a feel a tear drop onto his blazer, with more coming soon after. Ren turned Ann’s face so he could look at her clearly. Her eyes were tearing up again, which brought sadness to Ren himself. He was the type of guy who pained to see anybody like this, especially Ann, somebody he... felt something towards. All the way in Inaba, and even right after he transferred to Shujin, there was never anything like this. There was no one person who could make him blush like her, no one person who could make him happy to be around. Coming here as a ‘criminal, with no friends or contact with the parents that wanted nothing to do with him…

… Ann made it all better. He just didn’t know how to express that. The right thing was to hold her close and not let go until she felt safe enough.

“R-Ren… I-I’m not strong enough… a-am I? N-now that Shiho is g-gone… there’s nobody else for m-me to…” Ann sniffled, trying to shake off her tears, shivering slightly in the arms of Ren as he remained strong through all of this.

“... I-I'm a-alone… again…!”

…

_No, she wasn't._

…

Ren held her tighter, feeling more tears drop onto his shoulder as Ann fully buried her face into him. It was after a few seconds when he wanted to say something, lifting her face up again. They were nearly in nose-touching distance, which instantly seemed to calm Ann down, making her blush as Ren took a deep breath in.

“You have me… and the others… and I want to let you know right now that like Shiho, I won’t leave your side. We’re fighting together against the world. There’s nobody else I would want to stand beside. I-If you don’t want to let go for now… please, don’t worry… I just want to be the person here for everyone. Especially you, Ann. You just…”

It was Ren who was trying his best not to break apart. An extremely rare moment for somebody like him to lose his composure, but somebody like Ann knew best that even he had his limits.

“... you saw past the label. That’s the only thing I wanted out of this year.”

“Ren…”

Ren pulled her in further, leaving Ann’s head on his shoulder. Her crying had subsided, instead a nervous expression filled her face. She felt all of her confidence disappear after Shiho’s sudden announcement, however Ren’s words just brought it all back. Ann felt his touch. It was strong, not likely to let go. He really did care for her. For a moment, Ann was back in her dreams, thinking of the future with somebody by her side. That somebody was standing right in front of her.

And he had to know.

“...”

“... is everything-”

…

“... **I love you**.”

Everything stopped for a moment, with Ren himself taking a moment to take in what Ann had just said. Ann herself also stopped, pulling away slightly, her face the brightest it has ever been. The two just looked towards each other in bemusement, right before Ann gulped down, hoping Ren would say something to no avail.

“O-oh…! U-uh… uh… w-what did I say?” Ann spluttered out, looking to see Ren had an equally large blush on his face. He was more in shock than anything.

“R-Ren… I-I… u-um… might not have…”

“You said ‘I love you’...”

Well, she had to face it at one point. There was no going back.

“... r-right! I d-did? T-that’s…!”

A smile came across Ren’s face. It was a lot different to the panicked expression that Ann couldn’t get rid of. “Hey… um… if it’s anything, then I feel the same way.”

“ **WHAT?!** ”

Shrieking right in Ren’s face, Ann was quick to try and recover from it to hug Ren even tighter. She then pulled back for a moment, locking eyes with him once more.

“Y-yeah! I said it! I love you! I **REALLY** love you! Like, **REALLY, really!** ” she just threw every bit of affection Ann could contain for Ren, still not wanting to let go as Ren felt the hugging was a little bit too tight on his end. He didn’t mind this though, it felt pretty good. It was… new, but good. Really damn good.

Another minute passed before they separated, with Ren taking it upon himself to lift Ann’s hands up to face him. He thought back to what she just said, finally feeling a sense of pure bliss for the first time since he arrived in Tokyo. It had only really been nearly two months since he had met Ann, yet in this moment, he felt like he had known her for years and years. The same could be said for Ann, looking at Ren with nothing but love. To finally express her feelings took a huge weight off her chest and even better, the result was the best possible. Ann was the first to speak up, with Ren still taking it all in.

“I guess we’re more than just friends then… ha…”

“It looks that way. You’re happy though, aren’t you?” he said in response, lifting his hands out and spreading his fingers. They interlocked with Ann’s fingers and tightened, the first sign of a loving bond between them.

“So, so happy… the truth is that I’ve been holding this in for a few weeks. Ever since I saw you and got a better chance to understand you as a person, yep, I fell straight for you. Shiho always went on about love at first sight, and me being me, I never believed it…”

“... I think I believe it now, just a bit.” a smile came to Ann’s face as she let go of one hand, taking Ren’s right hand in her left hand.

“Just a bit? Even after I got you those flowers…” Ren pretended to sigh, still carrying that trademark smirk as Ann stomped down on his right foot.

“Don’t push it, mister. You’re my boyfriend now, so it’s my job to keep you in line, even if you’re too busy being our leader.” Ann squeezed his hand tighter, solidifying their status now as a couple. She just wanted Ren and Ren only for the next few days whilst waiting for Kawakami to recover or act. It would be sometime before the initial end of month deadline.

“... yeah, yeah… then I believe I have as much responsibility to keep my girlfriend in place, huh?” Ren still had his free hand in his pocket, his other one still locked with Ann’s hand. The two walked up towards the door as they let go of each other for a moment, Ren holding the double door open. He was slightly confused when Ann stood with her arms crossed, not moving at all.

“You coming? We should probably get going.”

Ann chuckled, walking over to grab him by the wrist and dragging Ren towards the same table in which they used to hold the Phantom Thieves meetings at.

“Or… we could stay here and talk. Talk about us.”

Ren returned a smile, reaching over to hold her hand tightly again.

“... that’s a good suggestion, yeah.”

* * *

 

The Fool. The Lover.

It all came together, not even taking that long for romance to blossom between the two. Ren and Ann talked for what seemed like forever to each other, about anything and everything. Ren finally had somebody he could comfortably talk to about his issues and his past, for some reason, Sojiro hadn’t gotten that trust yet. Ann was something else. She loved him for who he was, not looking at the fact that Ren had a criminal record, but that he was a simple boy in a tough situation. Their conversation lasted for around an hour, with the two deciding that they wanted to spend the rest of their time walking and talking around Shibuya. As they headed down the stairwell from the rooftop, some students still hadn’t left Shujin Academy, presumably because of after school curricular activities. Both Ren and Ann had discussed about showing their relationship in public, especially with Morgana having… something for Ann. Ren didn’t want to exactly hurt his friends feelings, as somebody like Morgana could easily take his new love with Ann the wrong way.

It was Ann who convinced him that even if both of them were considered ‘delinquents’, she wanted to give the other students more reason to envy them. However, they came to the decision that when around Morgana, and even Ryuji, then affection would be kept to a minimum. Ren felt a slight bit of regret, taking advantage of Morgana’s gullible like attitude… but whatever he worried about was now in the back of his mind, he had Ann holding his hand besides him.

“Keep staring…” Ann said as a group of guys in tracksuits walked past, conversing among themselves as the two thieves held hands, walking down the corridor with no care in the world for those who judged them. It was part of the Phantom Thieves’ code anyway, they thought, to push past these judgements and show who they really are. That’s what Ren wanted at the end of the day. He hoped that the recent exam results were already turning heads, to which he soon found it was the case when two girls still in uniform walked past the pair.

_“... I know he’s supposed to have a criminal record…”_

_“... he’s cute… and smart…”_

_“... I wouldn’t try your luck… look…”_

_“... those two were involved in what happened to Mr. Kamoshida…”_

“Back off!” Ann had enough, shouting at the girls to drive them away, not even wanting to hear anything about the situation involving Kamoshida again unless it came from a friend’s mouth. Even after his conviction, some students remained doubtful of Ren, Ryuji and even Mishima, with all three of their names at once considered for expulsion. The main rumour is that they, along with Ann, had blackmailed Kamoshida in some horrible way… which somehow still drove many students away from them.

“Be careful, these students aren’t much better than they were when I first arrived…” Ren spoke up, using his free hand to push a strand of hair upwards. “It’s stupid, really stupid… but I’m past caring.”

“Mhm. I’m with you.” Ann leaned over slightly, wanting to show some early affection as her head touched Ren’s shoulder. Their alone time was going to be a lot more precious.

Their time in the school reached a close as they exited, walking down the stairs and onto the streets of Shibuya. The first point that Ren’s eyes looked towards was the train station, with Ann following right next to him. She thought bringing up the topic of love would be a good way to find out if Ren had experience in this kind of stuff, unlike herself.

“I was wondering before all of this… have you ever been with somebody before? L-like this of course, like us…” bless her, Ann was still getting used to having a boyfriend. On the other hand, she didn’t expect Ren to blush and turn away, propping his glasses up.

“No, nothing like this. There’s nobody I haven’t really felt a connection towards… that’s of course before you came into my life…” Ren continued to blush, even through the cheesy line as Ann also felt it, deciding to instead squeeze his hand tighter whilst cringing only a tad on the inside. “That’s what couples say when flirting, don’t they? Stuff like that… I dunno, haha…”

Ann might have just discovered an entirely different side to Ren, a much, much softer and innocent side. It was really cute to her, to see the same person who yelled in the face of death and corruption like this.

“Yeah! And like… I’ll love you forever and ever…” Ann giggled at the end of her sentence, which also made Ren slightly chuckle. The students passing by became a bare minimum now that they were close to reaching the train station, with the plan being to hang around in Shibuya until it became too late for Ren to stay out. He wouldn’t want to annoy Sojiro or even test his patience.

“That’s a pretty bold statement considering that we’ve been dating for just over an hour and counting,” Ren said, continuing to smile across at Ann. “... it’s great to hear somebody say that though, and I hope to do the best I can in this relationship.”

“Aww, I didn’t know you were this sweet… it makes a change from our good friend Joker.” Ann responded and continued to lean against him, matching his smile. “I wonder how Ryuji will react? Actually, what’s the harm in letting him find out for himself?”

“Give it a few months,” Ren continued to joke, chuckling as the two found themselves reaching the train station. They made their way to the correct platform in order to get them back to central Shibuya from Shujin. It took some time for the train to arrive, with Ren releasing his grip for a second to let Ann walk on first. He was the definition of a true gentleman and he had Arsene to thank for that.

With it still being this busy, there was little room for the students to find themselves to either sit down or even stand up. Deciding on a much different method, Ren pressed two fingers to his forehead and visualised the scene in front of him. Out of the corner of his third eye, a seat was free, only a single seat though as the two made their way towards it. Ren stood to the side, allowing Ann to go through, however she wasn’t budging and instead was thinking of a much better idea that would benefit them both.

“I don’t mind standing, really.” Ren pulled Ann closer as a couple more people started to get on board.

“Please, Ren, it’s okay. I promise you.” Ann tapped her foot against the floor of the carriage, with Ren going to open his mouth once again until a finger from Ann stopped him from speaking. He instead slowly took a seat… and then was quickly joined by Ann, who took it upon herself to sit herself right on Ren’s lap. The boy blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. A simple chuckle came out afterwards as Ann turned around to wink at him.

_God, this was the life._

* * *

 

Their walk around the various attractions of Shibuya was an experience and a half, from Ren’s perspective anyway. Before either of them knew it, the two were standing back outside Leblanc, still hand in hand as what could be considered their first date was complete. Ren made a mental note to himself to ask Ann out to a fancy restaurant in the future. It was the least he could do for her at this point, even if he felt Ann would prefer something simple like a date at the crepe shop.

“Wow… I don’t want today to ever come to an end, but time does fly when you’re having fun!” Ann stretched with her free arm, causing Ren to do almost the same thing as the two had been out for quite a while. “You made it so special, thank you.”

“Heh, you know me… just doing my best, especially now I have a significant other to tackle this world with.” Ren believed that this line sounded ten times better than his first attempt at flirting, with it causing Ann to blush once more as she pulled Ren in for a hug. After what seemed like forever, they finally separated as Ren held her hands upwards once more.

“Sojiro might kill me if I’m out any longer, even more so if he finds out that I’ve been with a girl all this time.” Ren looked back inside Leblanc, peering through the misty window on the door to see Sojiro faced away and at the coffee maker. He appeared to be attending to somebody sitting at the bar.

“I understand… and Morgana will want to know where you’ve been as well. Let’s just make a promise to each other for the upcoming week, okay?” Ann leaned in slightly, almost coming up to Ren’s ear as she was whispering at this point.

“Let’s spend it all with each other, how about that?” she said, pulling away as now Ren couldn’t control the blush on his face. It sounded like a definite plan. He went to speak, until a brief look backwards towards the window of the door saw the all too familiar barista staring right at Ren.

“For sure, w-we’ll make some plans.” Ren started to push the door to Leblanc open, that was until he turned around as Ann was leaning forward, pecking Ren on the cheek before giggling to herself and walking away. The boy was near enough speechless as he stared into the dark streets of Yongen-Jaya for a moment, hearing a ‘Goodbye!’ from Ann as she hurried back towards the train station.

…

The bell sounded again as Ren entered the cafe fully, still holding his school bag as Sojiro greeted him. Ren placed his bag on one of the tables, looking towards the bar to see Sojiro smirking with an all too familiar customer also cracking a smile at what just transpired. He noted that they definitely saw what just happened, with the brief push of the door sounding the already faulty bell and alerting Sojiro especially to Ren outside. To think that Ann had already kissed him and they just got together… damn, he felt good. He knew that he had a lot to learn when it came to being in a relationship.

William Reed had just finished ordering a cup of coffee, sipping away as Ren sat down at the stall, removing a book from his bag and laying it on the table. William continued to drink as Sojiro leaned over, speaking directly to Ren as the student opened up the school book along with taking out a pen. He had some work from one of his teachers to be getting on with.

“It didn’t take you long, did it, kid?” Sojiro said, already in the process of preparing another cup of coffee. Ren would need it, he thought.

“W-what do you mean?” Ren was trying to distract himself with the work set from school, not noticing that Morgana had strolled along to take a seat right by him. He looked happy to see his leader back home.

“I mean what you just got as a reward I presume, unless the two of you are-”

“Can we talk about this another time?! I need to do my work regardless…” Ren stopped Sojiro from saying anything, prompting a chuckle from the owner as he showed a light hearted side to him for once. Their relationship was slowly improving and with Ren’s recent exam success, Sojiro was seeing him in a different light.

“Haha… whatever you say, kiddo. Here.” the owner walked around the bar, placing a cup directly besides Ren as the boy was already starting out on some translations for his English work.

“Leader! How was your day with Lady Ann and her friend, Shiho?” Morgana was surprisingly upbeat, Ren had figured that waiting for this long must’ve been quite a boring task. Nevertheless, he didn’t wish to ask those sort of questions right now.

“... good. We talked for quite a while and walked around Shibuya. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting like this.” Ren swore to himself in his head that he wouldn’t mention his and Ann’s new relationship, trying to avoid the topic if possible as he studied the words in front of him. “Then, with all this English work I have to do…”

“What do you think Lady Ann likes? As a present… in a way…” Morgana changed the topic just like that, surprising Ren as he was getting flashbacks to the flowers, roses to be more specific. He couldn’t lie with stuff like this, however he did fear what Morgana would do with this knowledge.

“She likes… sweets, flowers… and probably a lot more. Why do you ask?” Ren questioned, grilling his feline friend on the spot as Morgana looked away for a moment.

“I-I just want to get something that would make her appreciate me fully…” the tone in Morgana’s voice said it all as Ren completed another translation, but their conversation was interrupted as William stood up from his seat. Walking over to look down at Ren and Morgana, William analysed the work in front of him. Seeing his native language was a nice surprise, leaning over as Ren crossed off one more translation.

“English, ay? Not bad.” William remembered the private tutor that MI5 had hired to teach his unit Japanese. At the time, it was one of the hardest things to grasp, yet here he was speaking fluently to a high school student. “We keep running into each other here, kinda mad.”

William adjusted his long sleeved sweater by the collar, getting ready to leave as he waved at Sojiro and then at Ren. It was only after Ren and Morgana started conversing again did William question his own sanity, swearing he heard two voices where Ren was located. A much higher voice at that. He walked back over and got Ren’s attention again, making sure to keep his voice down.

“... is that your cat speaking or am I going crazy?”

Ren’s reply was pretty simple.

“Both.”

* * *

**???**

**21/05/16**

**Night**

* * *

 

“... not… good… enough…”

His hand tore the scribbled canvas away from the easel it was placed on, joining many other sheets on the floor that were all painted differently. The blue hair of the boy stood out among his other features; a lanky frame, along with eyes that were constantly flickering.

No sleep, it was the only explanation.

He couldn’t go anymore, although his sensei wouldn’t be proud of him… art came before his own health. It was a battle in his own mind. To continue painting every little idea that popped into his head, or to get some good sleep at such an absurd time of night, he could miss the upcoming exhibition.

The boy leaned his hand forward, sliding a finger across the easel as it left a dry red mark. He then rose from the stool, walking in the dark towards what he presumed was his bed, the place that he would finally… finally rest.

…

A stop. A fall. A thud.

…

Yusuke Kitagawa fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was in a bit of a rush to get this out. I feel it turned out quite well in the end. The next chapter will be structured differently and will be one of many post-palace chapters, detailing small events that take place in the days leading up to what would have been the deadline... that's if our group finish before then! It slightly serves as filler, but also gives everyone a chance to see how others develop given some free time and no real objective, that includes our new couple of Ren and Ann as their relationship will be heavily highlighted in future chapters. There's a few other relationships that may start brewing, but it'll take a while to get started with those.
> 
> And now, we officially enter the new arc involving Yusuke! I hope you will enjoy what I have planned for both the thieves and our secret agents.


	13. Cinema 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's official. Ren and Ann are a happy couple still intent on living their lives as good students whilst also operating in the Metaverse as Phantom Thieves. With time left before what would've been known as the deadline to Ryuji's debt, they decide to spend it all with one another whilst being careful to not alert both Morgana and Ryuji. On the other side of town, the MI5 agents find themselves going after a brand new target, whilst one member is sick and tired of being ignored by his peers.

**REST PERIOD**

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**23/05/16**

* * *

 

_Hey._

_Talking to the apparent voice in my head again… I blame the fact that I have a Persona. Regardless, there’s just so much stuff going through my head at the moment, it’s hard to keep a usual cool and calm face. Instead, here I am, the transfer student of rumour, over the moon because he’s managed to get himself a girlfriend. That word still hasn’t sunk in yet. Ann is actually my… wow, and there she is paying attention to whatever Ms. Chonou is teaching at the front of the class. It’s hard to pay attention when she’s in front of me. For the first time in forever, I feel a full connection to somebody. It’s still early days, but we understand each other, the issues we’ve gone through and the obstacles we’ve had to overcome._

“Madarame… the maestro of the art world…”

_Madarame? Oh. The teacher of that Kitagawa I keep running into. Come to think of it, he was on the news the other day. Sojiro allowed me to purchase an old television set and set it up in my room. Morgana can complain about the quality all he wants, at least it does the job. So, from time to time, I just find myself sitting back and watching whatever pops up first. As luck would have it, only yesterday when I had the day off school was there this whole ordeal involving Madarame. A meeting with some government officials to discuss the future of the art world in Japan. It sounded cryptic, but whatever. It doesn’t concern me at all and I don’t even know why I’m talking about it._

_Speaking of interesting topics, Ms. Kawakami hasn’t shown up again. There was no reason given, again. Then only yesterday, Ann and I brought up the point of doing something about these guardians who Kawakami told us on the ‘other side’ were constantly heckling her for money. I kept a mental and written note of the mention of a conspiracy. An apparent group who are working together to make Tokyo, and Japan… well, their bitch. She didn’t give any names, however her knowledge of the group entirely as well as the fact that her testimony to us reveals that she overheard a conversation leads me to believe that somebody in this school is part of this conspiracy._

_Which brings to me him, Principal Kobayakawa._

_I mean, come on! As if any of these other lousy teachers would be connected to such an apparent large group. Then again, the whole group thing could have been a farce by her shadow to drive us in a different direction. A conversation with Morgana brought that to light, to which he reminded me that the shadows of these people often reveal information buried deep down within themselves. Principal Kobayaka arguably has complete control over Shujin Academy, there’s no doubt about that._

_I just need to investigate further…_

_… h-hey!_

Without warning, Ren snapped back to reality to feel something being lifted off of his face. His vision was still the same, albeit without a pair of glasses to act as this mask of a good student. That’s because with a quick turn of his head, Ren found himself facing Ann, who had taken the boy’s glasses for her own, sticking her tongue at him as she turned around before Ren had a chance to try and take them back.

“You gotta be faster!” Ann said to him, keeping her voice down in order not to divert any attention towards them. Unfortunately, the constant shuffling of Ren’s seat brought Ms. Chonou over to him as she told him to stand and answer her question.

“Syn and aisthesis also mean together and senses, miss.” Ren’s answer was approved, letting him sit back down again, but not before reaching over to quickly swipe his glasses back from Ann. It’s not like he needed them, it was just a bit of payback.

“Is that fast enough for you?” Ren said, sitting back down and receiving a more than unhappy stare back at him.

“No fun,” Ann pouted, trying to reach behind her blind as she instead ended up laying across Ren’s desk right in the middle of class. She soon realised her mistake, quickly sitting up to avoid falling backwards as Ren looked down to a still sleeping Morgana. The boy went back into his own mind for a second, leaving himself open in the process. “Hehe! That’s twice!”

Ann snatches the glasses, placing them back over her eyes and turning around to face the front. Fortunately for Ren, he would have the last laugh as Ann’s antics were noticed by Ms. Chonou, who ordered her to answer the next question. Leaning back in his chair, Ren pretended to write down the notes from his textbook, however he was really listening out with the expanded ability of his third eye to whispers around the classroom. It looks like the two had an audience of sorts.

_“... what is with those two…?”_

_“... are they together…?”_

_“... pure cringe…”_

_“... the bitch and the criminal…”_

The raven haired boy sat back in his chair, it seems the exam results hadn’t changed his public perception like he originally believed. It didn’t matter, because to Ren, the more people who hated him also envied him. And they would envy Ren even more knowing that he had managed to get Ann Takamaki for himself.

Stealing hearts and breaking them, it was a perfect combination… he’d swear to never break a certain person’s heart in particular though. The girl right in front of him, of course.

* * *

**23/05/16**

 

* * *

 

_Look, I know that these periods of rest are hella important… but damn, I just wanna get back to beating up some shadows!_

_Hey, inner Ryuji. It’s me, actual Ryuji. You’re still here, have been for a while ever since Kamo-shitstain decided to bust up my leg. I gotta admit to ya, you’ve been the angel and devil on my shoulder ever since the Phantom Thieves started up. Sure, Ren and Ann helped me to understand myself better, but sometimes all I need is myself to really think through a situation. So, what am I doing right now? For starters, fuckin’ hopin’ that Kawakami does have that change of heart, my Ma would kill me if she found out the debt I owed from calling a maid service. She’d have a reason though, as would people like Ann… hell, she still holds it against me, more as a joke to be honest._

_It was bad though man… real bad, not even apologising to Mishima made me feel better. What do you say? Do you think it’s time I start taking some more responsibility for myself? Not like, leading the Phantom Thieves, but being somebody in society that others can look up to and shit. All this time, it just feels like people look at me like I’m trash on the street. Ren was the first guy to give me a chance, hell, I didn’t give him one at first until the whole castle shit. I guess it’s how I saw people in general. Everybody held something against me, my name was basically dirt… so I pushed everyone away, including my own Ma at some points._

_It then hit me that I didn’t want to become like my Dad, the raging alcoholic that lost all sense of himself and took it out on us. I’d swear from the day we took down Kamoshida to change this corrupt society, and now, on this day, I’m swearing to become a better person. That includes getting good grades, which fuckin’ sucks. There’s always Ren or Ann to ask, especially RenRen, the guy was near enough top of the school!_

_Anyway, let’s put any mention of exams to the back of this mind of mine and head to the arcade… maybe I’ll be able to hog a machine all to myself without waiting in a damn line…_

_… huh?_

Ryuji shook his head a few times, looking around him at the fairly busy street of Shibuya. He ruffled his blonde hair for a few seconds, continuing to look around, being fairly certain that somebody was watching him, to put it bluntly. After a few seconds, Ryuji turned back around, the arcade straight in front of him until something out of the corner of the blonde’s eye caught his attention. Now, it wasn’t often you’d see somebody reading a manga like this student was, holding the copy up to their face and up close. Ryuji’s suspicions were confirmed when he started to slowly walk up and down the street itself, catching glimpses of the student in question peering over the manga. He walked towards the person in question, schoolbag still over his shoulder, and it was at that point that they lowered the manga.

“Niijima? The hell are you doing?” Ryuji recognised the student council president immediately, who was fairly red at being discovered like this. “I mean, it’s not often you see somebody like yourself out here near the arcade…”

“W-why I’m here is none of your concern, Sakamoto-kun. I was just reading the newest edition of this… um…” Makoto stuttered, closing the manga and holding it at her side. “And anyway, shouldn’t you be more concerned with your grades? Especially after your recent results.”

“Oh, come on! You were there! And it’s me, the hell do you expect?” Ryuji acted instinctively, then he traced back to the conversation he had in his head. It was a bold move, but could somebody like the student council president really help him to do better in his studies? “A-ah… sorry, that kinda just came out without much thinking.”

“Does that mean you’re actively pursuing to improve in the next semester? There’s certain books I can recommend for you in the library.” Makoto had composed herself, noting that this wasn’t the first time she had ‘run’ into Ryuji like this. “As student council president, it's my job to make sure that-”

“We know, we know, we know… you’re like a robot with stuff like that, how about you loosen up a lil’ bit? Have some fun, y’know.” Ryuji saw that Makoto looked away as soon as he mentioned the ‘robot’ comment. He then awkwardly looked back towards the arcade, realising what he was still here to do.

“... just remember that your studies should take priority, Sakamoto-kun. What do you get up to outside of school anyway? I’ve already noticed you spend a lot of time with Amamiya-kun and Takamaki-san.” Makoto questioned, awaiting a response as Ryuji took more than a second or two to think of an answer, for obvious reasons.

“We’re good friends, yeah. That ain’t a crime, is it? We just enjoy each other’s company, and all that. I would’ve asked ‘em to come over to the arcade today, but Ren told me that him and Ann are sorting something out between them.” Ryuji scratched the back of his head, looking towards Makoto who had regained her composure.

“No… no, of course not. It’s just a very… interesting group. You remember when I met you all in the courtyard and Takamaki-san pushed me away, correct? Ever since that incident, I’ve always wondered how you came together.” Makoto pressed a hand to her chin, looking straight at Ryuji who was finding it difficult to even look the honour student back.

“You wanna know the truth? How about you take how everyone in that damn school looks at us? You’re this honour student, go figure it out for yourself. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to fight back against this rotten society.” Ryuji said, realising that last bit of his sentence would be vague and/or suspicious to somebody like Makoto. Anyway, the quicker he got out here, the better.

“See ya around, Niijima. I’d be better if we stopped here.” Ryuji fled the scene, quickly walking towards the comforts of the arcade as Makoto reached out to try and ask him something. It hit her mind as he disappeared from her view. Makoto wanted to know what this ‘fighting back against society’ was. Could it be related to what she was solely looking into? There was no doubt that the principal would ask for another update.

Another lie needed to be created. Still, zero progress.

* * *

**24/05/16**

* * *

 

Ren and Ann had been together for nearly a week, well, four days to be exact, so today would be their first official date at the diner in which they were used to studying in. Similar to their previous experiments when it came to flirting with one another, the two threw back and forth cheesy lines as they placed their orders. Their conversation went from their past, to what they each enjoyed, to even what would be next for the Phantom Thieves. It was a nice moment to sit back and relax, not having to worry about planning ahead to go into the Metaverse. It was an exhausting experience just to even set foot in that other room, with both students, to which they assumed Ryuji also felt the fatigue, not having enough time to do anything else bar study in fear of collapsing due to said fatigue.

They looked around for any other Shujin Academy students, considering this wasn’t long after school had been let out for the day, however there were barely any apart from one or two sitting all the way across the diner itself. Ann had already expressed that she was fine with showing Ren off in front of others, Morgana and Ryuji excluded. Ryuji could figure it out for himself. Morgana didn’t need his heart being broken either, especially considering that Ren was the one to snatch up Ann before him. Deep down though, Ann told Ren that she didn’t really appreciate all of Morgana’s attempts to try and impress her. Ann believed that somebody just be themselves when it comes to things like that, and well, Ren was that guy.

“You’re just… the first person who I really admired, even if we take away our escapades as the Phantom Thieves. If they want to keep calling you and I names, they can do that…” Ann said, getting close to Ren and pushing herself up against him. The boy naturally responded with an embrace, one hand brushing over her hair whilst another was around her waist.

“Hey… I like it when you do that…” Ann giggled, snuggling up closer to Ren as he continued to mess with her pigtails. Ren was still clueless when it comes to impressing a girl, but whatever Ann liked, he’d do his best to do such things to make her happy. His happiness now depended on hers, and in Ren’s eyes? That was pretty awesome.

“If it gets your hands out of my hair, then so be it.” Ren chuckled back to her, trying to take another sip of tea in front of him. Was it a betrayal to coffee? Perhaps. And considering he wasn’t too fond of it, Ren set the cup down, going back to conversing with Ann. They would stay like that until the night sky drew in.

* * *

**25/05/16**

* * *

 

Mementos.

A place that hadn’t been touched in some time, and it’s meant that in terms of how many shadows continued to roam around the place. The Phantom Thieves were not the ones visiting this location however, instead, William Reed had decided to make his way back into Mementos, not for investigative purposes, but to hone his skills further. Why was he doing such a thing knowing the strains it had on his body? Just a day earlier, William decided to distance himself from the group and researched into cognitive science, which correlated to how the Metaverse itself was explained to him by the Phantom Thieves, and a talking cat in particular.

He still couldn’t get over that… thing.

An article about the concept of changing cognition itself caught his attention. The near-impossible ability of altering how other people would see the world for themselves. To think that this could be true, it kind of scared him with what that other group were doing. He knew about ‘changing hearts’ and taking a ‘treasure’. The information he received was too brief in all honesty. To ask for more would be proof that he’d have broken his promise to Ren in particular. He had to have him on his side for the time being, even after hearing the story of his past.

Another event that took place not too ago involved the application itself, with him entering the name of somebody whose case Robbie was looking into, right into the application. It was apparently a success, if his translation skills proved correct, but there were more options, more options to pick from. Something about a location, and… he couldn’t exactly grasp the concept of the last part, but it loosely meant what apparently that person thought of that specific location within their own cognition. William was just getting confused more and more with the revelation that he could do all this stuff. This was actually possible…

… and perhaps, Mementos was the key to discovering what cognition meant to this world.

His Persona was something different, and he related it back to a study done by Karl Jung. A social face, or a mask, presented to the world. Everybody had different personas for different occasions. In the outside world, he was a detective to everybody bar his colleagues, to them? A secret agent working with one of the highest ranking government bodies in the United Kingdom. In this world, he was a warrior, somebody who fought against evil itself to satisfy their own needs. The symbol that represented this was his sword that almost became part of him, like another limb.

Alfred.

That was the name. It resembled some sort of holy knight, who he believed was from old English folklore. Then again, he barely understood this concept. It just felt good to slay these ‘beings’ and use actual magic, flashing back to when he was a kid and wishing to be a superhero.

William continued through Mementos, dragging his sword along as everything started to become a mere blur. All that was left to pursue was the truth.

* * *

**27/05/16**

* * *

 

His name was Junya Kaneshiro. The man Robbie Allister had been trying to pinpoint for a whole month.

So far, the little information he had to go off of was that the police over here had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Another bit of information was that Kaneshiro operated some sort of small crime syndicate in and around Tokyo, some of it involved actual students from nearby schools including the already noted Shujin Academy. After an outing at night, he recovered a damaged package that was dropped near a drain, a slight hint of blood on the packaging itself. The small white tablets inside confirmed nothing to him at that point, well, nothing in particular, but this was normal behaviour for these small-time criminals. Believe it or not, Robbie had dealt with drug trafficking in the past, just maybe not on this scale as he was told to believe in by Alexander Smith, who had been conducting research himself.

The television was showing a conference for some sort of famous artist. Apparently, he was starting to pick up popularity even outside of Japan. Meanwhile, William picked up the file as the two were leaving the house, they’d left it on the front desk in the living room by accident. He saw the name, the picture, the information they had so far that was mostly crossed out or just unknown to them. The agent noted that he had already entered this Junya Kaneshiro into the navigation application, but there were still two more boxes. William believed that somewhere in Mementos, he’d find the root of this man’s cognition. He just couldn’t set out today, it was too risky with Florence around and he was feeling sick regardless.

“Is that Robert’s file? I assumed he wouldn’t just leave it out in the open.” the voice from behind him said, leading William to quickly dart around, facing the red haired woman who was back in that familiar suit and tie getup with a black skirt to boot. It was identical to what Florence wore when she first moved in. William was simply in a short sleeved black hoodie and jeans, not bothering to clean himself up in terms of his hair either. “And get ready to go out, we need to leave shortly.”

“Eh? I don’t have any plans though, that’s all you.” William left the file where he found it, facing Florence with his hands in his pockets as she glared straight at him.

“No, stupid. I need your assistance. I believe that in order to fully understand this system better, attending some sort of court trial may help us in the long run. You need to look the part, and this…” Florence grasped at his hoodie, nearly pulling him right towards her. “... won’t do.”

William sighed, gently pulling her hand away and shrugging his shoulders. He said that he wouldn’t be long and headed back towards his own room, surprisingly, despite the fact that Florence was staying in it for the time being, nothing had really changed. The agent was quickly in a light red suit jacket, with the same coloured trousers to boot, along with a black tie and white undershirt. It was something different, definitely catching his colleague’s eyes as he emerged.

There were all kinds of stares as they walked down the streets of Tokyo towards where the courthouse was located. Both William and Florence wore sunglasses, in which Florence said would keep some more attention being directed towards them. Neither of them spoke to one another apart from general observations and Florence telling him to stop bumping into people.

“Can you at least control yourself in public? We’re professionals.” Florence said to him, lowering her shades for a moment before raising them back upwards. The boy didn’t look too concerned, instead deciding to loosen up his suit jacket and continue to smile. “Will-”

“We’re fiiiine. I think the red suit was a bad idea, look at me standing out here like I own this damn city.” William wanted to play up his hidden status, whilst also wanting to slightly annoy Florence as she walked ahead of him, her heels making notable noises against the pavement. William jogs up towards his colleague, and once more, it was silence between the two.

And just like that, his day of relaxation was cut down to watching a trial he knew nothing about for hours. As it turned out though, on the prosecutor’s side was a woman he knew all too well.

Sae Niijima. The same woman who had kept coming to Leblanc with him. She was more sporadic with her appearances nowadays, but William knew that something was different about her when it came to the courthouse. Sae didn’t hold anything back when it came to producing evidence, or cutting straight to the point and asking questions that made the defensive side stutter before even producing an answer. William noted in his head that she was pretty good at her job. The most interesting thing about this case was the man being accused of what was known to him as some form of armed robbery.

The name that this certain individual brought up as the person who ordered him to do such a thing?

Junya Kaneshiro. Almost in a breath of desperation.

* * *

**28/05/16**

* * *

 

The cinema was where they would find themselves just over a week after they started dating. Ren and Ann were getting used to spending every moment with one another, even when they weren’t in the same room. A video call was only a few taps away, with Morgana surprisingly not catching onto the fact that the two had more than just a simple friendship. Ren felt slightly guilty, but at this point in time? He just wanted to enjoy this break. The two had gone all over Shibuya over the past few days, and had arranged to see one of the latest romantic comedies in the cinema on this very day. In reality, Ren was hoping to see The Cake Knight Rises instead, but Ann convinced him otherwise, as well as the fact that she’d need a shoulder to cry on with these types of movies.

It’d be something that Ren would have to get used to. He was more than fine with it though.

The last few days had flown by, and Ren wouldn’t exactly call them all dates apart from the one in the diner. It was only yesterday that both Ann and Ryuji had come over to Leblanc to spend the day with him. Ren was still working with Sojiro on his coffee brewing ability, giving both Ann and Ryuji a taste test as Sojiro suggested. In terms of Ryuji, he nearly spat it out, brutally honest with his opinion of the beverage and saying that Ren will need a lot of work before he becomes a full-on barista. However, Ann ended up drinking the whole cup, to which Ryuji questioned her taste in coffee. Ann looked to Ren, leading to the two just chuckling to each other. Ryuji remained clueless.

A flash forward and a snap to reality, Ren was in the middle row of the cinema itself, staring up at the big screen with the movie blaring all around. He must’ve faded off thinking about the other day. Anyway, this still wasn’t exactly his cup of tea, looking up at the screen as one of the typical big romantic scenes were taking place. Whilst the raven haired boy was trying hard not to look away from the confession taking place, cringing inside, he looked to his left to see Ann trying ever so hard not to sob. Well, Ren had to do the right thing and hugged her close. It was only then she leaned up right by his ear, with Ren’s attention fully diverted away from the screen.

“I-I want that to be us, soon…” Ann whispered gently, leading Ren to actually looking up to see what was going on. It was as he suspected, a full on kiss between the two main actors in this film. The words as well as her pulling in closer made the boy blush, which was noted by Ann, making her giggle again and tapping Ren on the nose.

“That’d be… a-awesome, yeah.” Ren said, ruffling a hand through his hair. Even he couldn’t of what to say, deciding to just finish watching the movie instead of awkwardly looking away every minute or so.

* * *

**29/05/16**

* * *

 

_Dear Diary,_

_It was an honour to receive the opportunity to travel outside of Tokyo with sensei in order to once again feature some of the finest pieces that we have created. As of such, I made my first appearance to the general public as a student of Madarame himself. I do fear that perhaps that may be all I am known as in the future if I cannot produce art in such a timely and efficient manner. After days upon days of researching the general Shibuya area, sensei accepted my draft piece and crafted it into one of his own. A part of me believes that some credit should be directed towards myself… but what am I thinking? I am but a mere student, not an accomplished artist like sensei. It is right of me to help him succeed whilst getting the ideas to build my own brand in the future._

_Did I mention that my dream was to open my own art museum? I want to be like sensei, opening the door to other inspiring artists and teaching them all that I hope I know. Sensei is different in the fact that I am his only student left. The people sent by the mass media seemed to be expecting more than just myself, however, I wish I could explain or know why my friends, his students… left on their own volition. I myself have never heard from them after they mysteriously disappeared from sensei’s residence. Sometimes, I walk around and see such faces like Nakanohara-kun. His face is always filled with such regret, something that I wish I could portray on a canvas._

_That would be wrong though. To take advantage of others’ misfortunes, or even to steal their work for your own._

_…_

_I wonder._

**Yusuke Kitagawa.**

* * *

**30/05/16**

* * *

 

It was fairly late at night, like later than William should have been out with both Robbie and Alexander. The three hadn’t been drinking, not one drop, instead they were still attempting to collect information on their newest top suspect in Junya Kaneshiro. William believed it was a nice way to divert his attention away from accessing Mementos, the Metaverse, whatever the hell it was. The only detail that stuck in his mind was the fact that Kaneshiro’s name was still registered. It made him think that something could be done to Kaneshiro’s cognition as a whole. Was this what the Phantom Thieves were referring to when they talked about changing a heart? Could he be the one to handle justice himself and do to Kaneshiro what they did to Suguru Kamoshida?

No… no, that was stupid.

It wasn’t stupid enough to show his collegues what he had discovered though, especially at such a random point in the night, but he wasn’t going to stand for this constant feeling of being ignored by his team.. The promise made between him and the other group was slowly fading away, and it didn’t mean much at this point. If they were to encounter each other, it would be a simple accident once more, just like how William first accessed the other world. He still had that promise with Ren, so was he doing the right thing?

… whatever. It was only an investigation!

They continued to converse until William saw that they reached the same location in which he first dragged into that place. Taking a deep breath and stopping in the middle of the square, William reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone as Robbie stopped too, looking towards his colleague, who looked more than troubled. The amount of people had dimmed down to only a handful walking through. William turned around to his friends, realising what he’d be dragging them into. They had to know though, perhaps together, they could change the world.

That’s what he would want. From all the hard times, they could finally set the bar for justice.

“Guys…” William started to say, turning around and holding his phone up, the navigation app opened as the one button to access Mementos in particular was only a tap away. The red and black aura of the application itself drove Alexander and Robbie to simply stare, not speak.

**“I believe that you’ll finally want to listen to me.”**

He tapped the access button without thinking of the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! This took a while to get out as I've been fairly busy throughout the week. This will be the first of these post-palace adventures, which will highlight small/key events over the days leading up to the deadline. In this case, we're finally going to go back to our British friends in the next chapter before we see what's happened involving Kawakami! I still hope you continue to enjoy this series.


	14. Bleach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acting on impulse, William Reed has dragged his colleagues, Robbie Allister and Alexander Smith into the dangerous world of the Metaverse. When aiming to prove a point about what he's been experiencing, a near run in with an unexpected enemy has all three of them on the brink of death.

* * *

**Mementos**

**30/05/16**

* * *

 

The world began to change around William, Robbie and Alexander. It was something that the first man was used to at this point, albeit still quite mysterious and surprising as the landscape changed around them, becoming barren, dark and grungy. The sky turned dark red, clouds that were there turning white to black and each step that was made sported a pink substance underneath their feet. William also felt his clothes change in that time, the black cap forming on his head along with the long brown buttoned up coat. The most prominent feature was the holster on his back, which soon spawned the same gold-tinted sword to which his power stemmed from. With a pop of the collar and hands in his pockets, William looked on at the startled Robbie and Alexander, who both had varying reactions to seeing the world change around them.

“... what the?! Why’s the sky red?! Where did everything go?! And… when did you change clothes?!” Robbie was shouting loudly, pointing towards the outfit change of William who drifted forward to stand between his two confused colleagues. “... is this what you’ve been trying to tell us?! With the… the application, the… fuck!”

Clearly flustered, Robbie smacked his hand against a wall close to the train station, trying to get a hand of this situation as Alexander looked more curious if anything. He stared around at his surroundings, looking over at William who still hadn’t spoken, as well as having a stoic expression on his face.

“Even I can’t believe what I’m looking at… it isn’t poetic, just… mind boggling. Will, I assume you’ll be willing to…” Alexander stopped, seeing William raise a hand to beckon them towards him as he started to head down to the train station. “... hey! At least have the courtesy to tell us what has happened!”

He didn’t exactly want to say anything at this point. William believed that they should discover this place how he did, walking down into the distorted train station and all. He beckoned once more, albeit more aggressively, which prompted them to follow after some more shouting did nothing to absolve this situation.

“Come on, dude! Speak to us!”

“Calm down for a moment! We’re following him into unknown territory…”

“Fuckin’ right it’s unknown, more like reality breaking territory… did he seriously take us here with that stupid little application?!”

“I saw he opened it… and then I assume he activated it, so yes, if I had to come to a conclusion then the mysterious application has changed the landscape of the entire world around us.”

“... that’s freaky.”

Before long, they had reached the bottom of the stairwell, leading the trio into a slightly wider area as the two lads not in any sort of mysterious outfit take a moment to look around at their surroundings. The colour red was still a predominant feature, appearing all over the walls and the floor, which also showed signs of breaking away at any moment. William Reed hadn’t stopped walking though, which is when Robbie straight up grabs his friend by the shoulder to turn him around.

“Will! We’re out here not knowing what the fuck is going on, and you’re walking into this… this place! Just TELL us what is going on! Please!” Robbie nearly shook the man, which caused William to reach out and remove his arm away, looking at the two whilst leaning against one of the walls. “... does this mean you’re actually willing to listen now?”

He said this with a grin, chuckling slightly as the other men looked at each other in confusement. “I’m going to be completely honest with you. This place is still mostly a mystery to me, and I’ve yet to fully find out what it’s all about… and maybe, just maybe… I’ve been going here way too much even for brief moments at a time, which then causes me to become fatigued in the real world…”

“... wait, did you just say the real world?” Alexander started, holding a hand up. “Does this mean that we aren’t currently…”

“Yes. At the moment, we exist within cognition, not reality. From my research and the people I met when I first came here, that’s what I can understand. The train station we’ve been going to for two years is no more in this twisted version of reality. It’s… it’s… shit, I forgot.” William scratched his head, taking the phone out of his coat pocket, the application open. “... Mementos. That’s it.”

Alexander and Robbie took some time to absorb the information, neither of them actually looking concerned, more curious if anything. The blonde walked around for a moment, examining the walls and even himself. “Cognition… I’ve read into such research in my spare time... and I never truly thought it’d come to actually exploring it.”

“Wakaba Isshiki, correct?” William responded back with, taking a few more steps forward. “She’s one of the main names who came up when I myself first discovered this place and wanted to look into cognitive research, albeit I had to borrow a trick or two from Adam to access certain files. Nothing really went into my head though, trust me… I don’t remember anything.”

“Hey, hey… can we stop with this mumbo jumbo shit for a second? Didn’t you say that you met people when you first came here? Let me get this straight… there’s OTHER people who can access this demented world?” Robbie remained flustered, walking around with his hands in his jacket pockets.

“... yep. Remember our friends from Shujin Academy? It turns out that they’ve been using this place for over a month to try and change society, whatever that means… which is why you may have noticed why I’ve been more friendly around the one with a criminal record. He’s their leader.” William almost said this nonchalantly, like it was information he expected his friends to know.

“Wha…?! Those kids are also in here?!” Robbie was stopped by William, who nearly pushed him backwards. “They’re only around four years younger than us, for fuck sake. Just… how about I give you all a brief of what’s been happening over the past week or so?”

And that’s what happened.

William talked for what felt like 20 to 30 minutes about absolutely everything that he had gone through. From being tortured after accidentally being pulled into the Metaverse by the group of students, to his awakening to a Persona, to every subsequent visit to Mementos that included him training or simply examining the place. William also curses out Florence, saying that being reduced to the couch made his condition worse. He also blames himself for continuing to back into Mementos, to investigate how people change through cognition. A main point of conversation is what William heard from the Phantom Thieves themselves, as well as what happened to Suguru Kamoshida

He recounts that Kamoshida had his heart changed through this world, which then forced him to willingly admit his crimes, which was a detail that the team and himself were stuck on for some time. William believes that people’s subconscious link to Mementos and the Metaverse, with something needing to be done to certain people for them to change their way of thinking. Robbie brings up what a Persona is, with Alexander once again linking his research with William’s research, as they both bring up Karl Jung. Following up on that, William says that he’ll be happy to give them an example of what a Persona is, however, he’s unsure of whether the two would also be able to summon one themselves.

Another point of discussion were the teenagers who William met, with Robbie saying that they shouldn’t be trusted, whilst Alexander says it would be better if they were at least acquaintances with one another. William then brings up his deal with the leader, saying that he wouldn’t go back to the Metaverse as it ‘didn’t interest him at the time’. He says that running into the group in reality was fine, however, he needed to be careful as there was no way to coordinate when they would come in here.

Finally, after many more minutes, Robbie and Alexander both seem to share the same knowledge as William. It compels Robbie to speak up, asking a vital question. “I want to know one more thing before we go any further… why are you doing this, Will? We’re supposed to be representing MI5 and solving cases back in reality, this just seems to be some sort of mystery on the side.”

“You don’t get it! Do you even realise what I’ve said already? This place, this version of reality, is the fuckin’ key to changing people without even interjecting ourselves in reality. We can do what those phantom thieves did to Kamoshida. We have the tools, we have the power, we can find out any bastard’s information in this city and change them!” William continued to smile, acting out of character as he kept continuing with his speech.

“... we don’t need MI5, do we? They’ve probably given up on us. When was the last time any of you submitted a report? Or better yet, was reminded to submit a report every single day like it’s been for the past two years? Think about it, we can change the world…” William stopped for a moment, suddenly jolting backwards and holding his head. After a brief second, it was like his personality completely changed, as he remained level headed once more.

“I’m getting a bit ahead of myself… haha…” William decided to quickly switch things up, jogging over towards the entrance point to the first path in Mementos itself. He had barely ventured far into it, taking out a few shadows each time for experience in wielding a Persona, however, most of the time he’d be sent running due to the shadows overpowering him. William didn’t like to feel weak, yet here he was… and maybe if he could get his colleagues to awaken, then finding out the mystery of this place would be a lot easier.

“... and don’t forget. Who took away our phones and gave us new ones with this application installed on? You want to find out why the higher ups did such a thing, don’t you? Then follow me, I want to show you the thrill of this place.” he said back towards the two, who took a moment to think before storing up all their confidence and following William down the steps to the depths of Mementos.

He had a plan to get them to awaken… but if it were to go wrong, they could be as good as dead.

* * *

 

They had arrived to the vastly wide area that had the noticeable train tracks for a road of sorts. William stood in the middle of the trio, as the newcomers to this version of reality had a hard time coping with what they were seeing. Without much of a blink, William was already walking towards one of the corners of the elevated platform. The other two watched him pull out… a skateboard? Yep, that’s what he was holding. William walked back to join the other two, flashing the board out in front of them.

“Trust me, I’ve had to walk along these train tracks and well… I thought that maybe with some extra modifications, it can become a pretty dope mode of transport. Left it here the last time I was here, and well… looks like none of those pesky shadows have bothered to touch it.” he exclaimed, looking in the distance to multiple figures patrolling the dark and grungy tracks.

His stares also made Robbie and Alexander look towards the shadows, with them going wide eyed at the sight of such creatures. “... these are the things you fight? The ones you talked about earlier?” Robbie said, crossing his arms and nearly walking off the side of the platform.

“... yeah, soon as they see you, they’ll transform into their true form or something. The best strategy I find is to get a jump on them, because otherwise I just get pushed back and have to retreat.” William used his hand to look further outwards, smiling to himself whilst placing the board on the edge of the platform.

“Watch and learn, ‘kay? Don’t fall too far back now!” he shouted, jumping forward with the board. It’s wheels started to spin out rapidly, with the landing as smooth as it could ever be. William was riding across the tracks with ease, making sure to keep his balance, no shadows in sight for now.

“... I don’t wanna go dude, what if those things fuckin’ kill me?” Robbie sat down over the side of the platform, not prepared to jump down until he saw Alexander silently walk next to him, leaping down to land on the train tracks. He started a run, turning around to wink at Robbie on the way.

“Pussy!”

Alexander still had a sense of humour underneath his polite and appropriate attitude, running after William whilst Robbie felt offended by the comment, jumping down himself and breaking out into a run. William found himself slowing down to let the two catch up, that’s when he looked back in front of him to see a lone shadow with it’s back turned.

_Perfect._

With a skid, William brought the board to a halt, leaving it behind him before walking forward to close his eyes. Robbie and Alexander ran in just in time to see a blue glow emanate from beneath their friend. The smirk of a devil filled his face, and a tarot card appeared, starting to slowly descend until it was floating above William’s open hand.

“This is some mad witchcraftery or something… goddamn…” Robbie gasped, stepping back to keep his distance, feeling the force of the summoning process hit back against his whole body.

“Something more than that, just watch…” Alexander threw an arm out, stopping both of them from progressing forward.

…

**“PERSONA!”**

The card smashed itself in William’s hand, causing an eruption of blue flames behind the man before Alfred once again made his presence known. With more of the supernatural coming out to play, the two men behind William were absolutely starstruck at this sight. Leaping forward with Alfred in tow, William quickly removed the sword from the holster to slash the shadow across the back. It forced it to dissolve into the ground, spawning up through the red and black ooze as a single Slime.

“Holy shit…! That thing is real! It’s real!” Robbie was trying to get a better look, all whilst his colleague still aimed to hold him back. Meanwhile, William started to run forward with the sword down at his side, surprisingly quite light with the size of it. Jumping forward and slashing through the Slime, it soon regenerated its body as William placed the weapon over his shoulder. He took a chance to look up at Alfred, trying to think of what to do to really show himself off, because that’s what this was all about.

“Alfred! Tarukaja!”

With the knowledge of his brief travels in Mementos, William now understood how skills and abilities worked. This one in particular made him feel a lot stronger, with a red glow flashing for a brief moment. “Kouha!”

It’s a new skill for him, with spears of Bless flying out of William’s right hand. Alfred imitated the same motion, with the Slime soon falling down and disappearing. Feeling to be safe, William lifted the sword up to slide it back in the holster that had been created. On the other hand, the other two boys were still looking on in shock. Alexander had the courtesy to applaud William’s efforts, who returned to their side to gather the modified skateboard still leaning against the wall.

“Jealous?” William had a bit of tongue in cheek, snapping his fingers as Alfred disappeared from behind him.

“... yeah, fine, I’d kill to have one of those things behind me. Imagine that! Persona, right?” Robbie crossed his arms, slapping William on the shoulder in a friendly way. The trio start to look around the large corridor they were currently situated in. The whole place was pretty creepy, however, it had that mysterious and overall ‘cool’ vibe to it. It felt like they were looking around for a full minute before conversation started up again.

“... that’s weird. Usually, I just stand here and the shadows come to me. It must be a quiet day…” William raised a hand to his chin, still not moving. He thought that maybe there were still some things in the Metaverse he was yet to understand. The other two men didn’t speak up at all, instead deciding to adjust their outfit, with Robbie removing his blue jacket to tie it around his waist.

“You said it yourself, you barely know anything about this place, and we’re all caught up despite not having those crazy powers,” Alexander spoke up, walking forward as again, the only thing they heard was the dead air of the cognitive world. “Let’s just return, perhaps one day we’ll be able to-”

**!**

**…**

“Did you just… hear something…” Robbie was the one to speak, his eyes widening and stepping back slightly. William and Alexander were soon quick to follow, especially the former, who felt an incredible sense of danger. He’d never felt danger like it before. The sound of chains were rattling in the distance, getting closer… and closer…

**…**

“Dude, these chains are freaking me the fuck out… can we leave?” Robbie said, starting a rather fast walk before suddenly, he stopped in his steps. From the ceiling, three more shadows dropped down, forming into slimes which made Robbie yell out in shock. He scurried back to stand against the wall, looking over to see that the only way out was in front of them, further into Mementos.

**…**

That’s when the chains were loud enough to send chills down their spines, William turning around to try and deal with the shadows whilst his friends just tried to defend themselves. He quickly concentrated his power, once again summoning the power of his Persona. “Come to me, Alfred!”

In an instant, William rushed forward, his Persona appearing and trailing behind him. The agent jumped into the air, his sword brandished once more, bringing it down hard into the ground for a move that had helped him many times before. It wasn’t a skill, because the name would’ve popped into his head. William threw a hand forward, the ground beneath the sword breaking into a zigzag formation, with blue electricity raging through before erupting upwards to completely obliterate each Slime.

“Fuck off… christ,” William turned out, surprising himself with how he took out each shadow. He then nearly fell back in shock, the rattling of the chains now right in front of the trio. It was a giant creature like he had never seen before, expecting to only see it in some form of fanfiction or fairytale. It’s arms were like huge barrel revolvers, its face completely covered with a sack that eerily seemed to have blood on it. The chains were clear, covering its whole upper body.

**…**

With his Persona still lingering behind him, William felt like his heart was about to stop. He only felt absolute despair just looking at this creature, whatever the hell it was, and the same could be said for his teammates. Robbie in particular was frozen in fear, Alexander knocked down to the floor, just looking up with his mouth agape.

This was **The Reaper**.

And if they didn’t get out of there, it would be certain death for all three of them.

The Reaper aimed one of its revolvers, aiming straight at the ground in between Robbie and Alexander. It charged up an extremely bright orange shot, with either man unable to do anything before The Reaper took its shot and fired. Within a second, William rushed forward to the blast zone of the attack, letting out a cry before jamming his sword into the ground along with his hand. Just like how he blocked Joker’s attack after first awakening, a red shield raised up to try and deflect the shot.

…

It just wasn’t enough.

The shot burst through the shield with ease, making one hell of an explosion and sending each man flying backwards through the air. William was sent the furthest, hitting the ground with a thud as his Persona disappeared from sight. He felt his sword fall to the ground beside him, not letting it go until the moment his whole body smacked against the train tracks. William looked up, his vision fading by the second, realising the absolute malice and pure power behind this creature’s attack.

Robbie bounced against the far wall of the large corridor, smacking face first into the tracks before taking his time to look up, His nose was definitely broken, twisting around and seeping blood from the nostrils, whilst most of his shirt was nearly burned off entirely. Alexander on the other hand, only skidded across the floor, not even looking up to see what had happened until after a few seconds. His hand was covered in blood, his mouth seeping the same thing.

Each of them layed near moments from death, with William still finding it in his power to get up to a knee. In a desperate plea as he saw The Reaper charging up another attack, albeit fairly slowly, he dropped his sword, not bothering to call out his Persona and instead shout out to his friends.

“Please….!” For a moment, the man stopped, taking a second to cough loudly before spitting out blood onto the floor. “Try to remember why you came here… try to remember why the fuck we were… why we were…”

He collapsed forward, unmoving, bawling his hand into a fist after a few seconds and smashing it against the floor. “No…! I won’t die… here! Whatever this thing is… I won’t die… I won’t die!”

William felt like the worst person, leading some of his only friends left into this place, now messing with an enemy that he never even knew existed, yet had brought them to the edge of despair. His words were nearly reduced to tears, fearing death in its entirety, standing up finally before hearing the chains once again as they were launched forward, lifting and picking up slightly before throwing William far back into the opposite wall to where Robbie had landed.

With the basic knowledge they had, Robbie and Alexander didn’t know what was going on… all that was left would be for them to just die. Then, the words of their friend, the leader of this whole group lead Robbie in particular to get up to a knee, smashing his hand against the cracked wall.

His life was no better than anybody else’s before the test came along that brought them into MI5. Robbie had a past where he didn’t appreciate nothing and nobody, becoming a social outcast in his room. There was no point to even wanting to go out with the few friends he had, because in his world, he was safe. It triggered a memory in his mind, of the time where a doctor was sent around because somebody, his parents, cared for his safety. Robbie had never felt happiness until joining up with the team in MI5, even if he was unappreciated by others for his wild antics, now choosing to open up a lot more compared to his earlier years.

He couldn’t have that… he couldn’t throw away a life that he’d been begging to live!

**…**

“I hear ya… hehe… shit…” his voice was impacted from the broken nose he sported, leading to Robbie shoving a hand up and through his ginger hair, getting some blood on that hand in the process. “Let’s be real… I don’t have a clue what’s going on… or if I’m in a dream… or a nightmare… this is the weirdest, worst and…”

He fell down to a knee again, holding his head as The Reaper stood still, unmoving as a bundle of energy surrounded the creature. Robbie presumed it was concentrating for some sort of attack, which would definitely end their lives in a beat if he didn’t do something.

**…**

… and that’s when it happened.

_“Are you finally willing to let me bestow this power upon you?”_

Robbie fell back, screaming in pain against the wall as his eyes glowed yellow. He pounded the surface multiple times with his fist, holding both hands up to his head. Alexander was driven over to look at what was happening, not speaking, simply in absolute shock as Robbie was in a battle with his own mind.

_“You dream about wanting to be a hero, to let yourself loose upon this world!”_

_“Let’s forge a contract, to where both of us can write our own story…”_

_“... because you should never forget how powerful your own mind can be!”_

_“There’s no need to be what other people desire just to please them!”_

_“I am thou.. thou art I…”_

He continued yelling, the voice forcing him back down to a knee before all the pain stops for a moment. Robbie gets up to his feet, looking down at the ground, still slightly convulsing before throwing his hands forward that emit a blue flame. From the ground, the flames create a stone podium, spawning a blue tinted sword that was surrounded by similar flames. The ginger haired lad reached his hands forward, letting out an unholy cry to remove the sword from its position.

_“Let them know that it’s your world to run around in!”_

_“Be the warrior you’ve dreamed of!”_

Blue flames wrapped around his body, only letting a shadow of the man appear. After they subsided, Robbie’s whole appearance had changed from that of ripped clothes he was in due to The Reaper’s assault. His shirt was replaced with a dark blue tunic, with patterns covering the front along with two separate black lines going across the front. Along the arms, more patterns were spread across the sleeves, moreso less in the design of barbed wire, spikes and other symbols of chaos. The tights were pure black, with near enough knee high boots that were a slightly darker brown. Up and around his forehead, a dark blue bandana was fitted, showcasing most of his ginger hair around the back.

The power exerted made William slightly look up from where he landed, a small stream of blood dripping down his face. It hit him what was happening, making the current Persona user smile slightly before dropping down to the floor again, not having enough energy to pull himself up.

“I realise it now…! I’ve always been locked away, wanting to be my own lead in life… and now, this isn’t just me wanting to play hero… this is who I really am!”

With a snap of his fingers, a holster spawned on Robbie’s back, leading him to slide the sword inside so it found its place at home. He spread his arms out as The Reaper was preparing another attack, this time in Alexander’s direction. Robbie felt the energy surrounding him, lifting his hand up as a tarot card rose up from the ground.

**_The Moon…_ **

**_…_ **

**“HEAR MY VOICE! OSSIAN!”**

The glass smashed, forming a Persona behind Robbie as he couldn’t be more smug, even in the face of death personified. Ossian wasn’t the biggest Persona, its body covered in a cloak with a hood to cover all but one gleaming yellow eye. Coming off of the Persona were multiple symbols, slowly circling it, with a certain heroic vibe coming off of him. Different to Alfred, Ossian was a lot more chaotic, wanting to do as he pleased instead of always what was right. He for sure wasn’t a leader, but be damned if Robbie wasn’t going to act like he was his own hero.

The Reaper fired off a burst of dark energy, heading straight in Alexander’s direction that would’ve connected if Robbie didn’t rush in the way of the blow. With a draw of his sword, Robbie smashed the blade down onto it, trying to deflect the blow before being unfortunately overpowered already, sending him flying backwards. His new skills meant that this crash landing wouldn’t be the worst, throwing his hands out to the ground to perform a picture perfect backflip, landing on his feet with only a few tears in the new outfit to show for it.

“... fuck… we gotta get out of here… Alex…!” Robbie started another run towards Alexander, seeing The Reaper’s chains approach his friend and acting on impulse, his Persona throwing the sword forward by itself as it struck The Reaper in the chest. At first, it seemed to do absolutely nothing… and then The Reaper staggered for a moment. It had been momentarily stunned, but only a few seconds later and it would be ready to strike again, concentrating an attack as Robbie gathered the damaged Alexander to help him away…

… which is when the unexpected happened and Alexander pushed him away, turning around to face The Reaper head on.

“What the fuck are you doing?! We’re going to DIE if you don’t get moving!”

**…**

An unnerving chuckle.

“That’s what has haunted each and every one of us, isn’t it? The feeling of creeping death terrifies us to the point where we become an entirely different person… that’s what this cognitive world represents…” Alexander looked down to the ground, spitting out blood as he tried to continue, looking to the side of him to see a chain lash out and attack Robbie, grabbing him by the right arm and flinging him further backwards across the tracks. Even his new power was not enough for The Reaper.

Still slightly bloody and battered, Alexander held his arms out, wanting to become some sort of protector for his friends. That’s what he’d been known as for his younger years, the fall guy, the person to never fight back. He was brought up in a household that recognised pride and honour above all, escaping due to his passion in music. Every track he composed or listened to, conveyed something different to him. One of his favourite feelings was to compose a track that made him feel happy, because being forced to interact with the wider society was no fun. That was his past life though, and now? He had to fight to protect his friends, that’s all that mattered at this moment.

**…**

_“To be or not to be… do you wish to answer my question?”_

Still trying to defend his downed colleagues, Alexander’s eyes glowed a bright yellow, making him hunch over and hold his head. The pain was unbearable, every shake of his body making it much worse as he wrestled with the voice in his head. The blonde grabbed a handful of his hair, trying to do anything to stop the pain or even calm it down.

_“The sounds you create represent the feelings of this world, so let us hear it all as one!”_

_“Protecting yourself for so long whilst not being able to do anything about others in danger…”_

_“... why bother acting so selfish?”_

_“I want to forge a contract, to let you finally believe that nothing is impossible.”_

He screamed again, pounding the floor before starting to get up to his feet. Alexander’s eyes fully enveloped into a yellow glow before they darkened, the pain seemingly stopping as he raised two hands forward.

_“I am thou… thou art I…”_

_“Do not look away from the writing on the wall!”_

Just like how it was for the other two men, blue flames emerged from Alexander’s hands to form a podium, a purple tinted sword sticking out of the top to represent the warrior’s heart over a rebel’s will. With a deep breath, eyes still glowing, Alexander reached to grab the handle of the sword and started to pull it out. It hurt with every single pull, making his hands bleed and arms spasm like never before, Finally he pulled out the sword, letting out a high yell with the voice in his head speaking once more.

“Construct a new rhythm built from your heart!”

The blue flames rose again as The Reaper shot one of its revolvers, surprisingly, the shot deflected off the flames and off to the side, putting a hole in the wall in the process which surprised a still moving Robbie, who had walked over to lift his leader up. The shot seemed to just veer off instead of travel straight on, which was revealed when the flames disappeared to reveal a newly suited Alexander, his hand held out surrounded by a purple aura. He now wore a long sleeved conductor-esque jacket, complete with white sequins and a purple bowtie. His belt was also a purple colour, with purple striped black trousers that were also complete with sequins to match his upper garment. His shoes were pure white, bearing similarities to those of expensive work shoes.

As the purple aura vanished, Alexander closed his eyes, causing the blue tarot card to fall down. His hand stretched out to the side, bending his legs whilst staring down The Reaper.

“I’ve made a decision… to awaken the true version of myself in order to discover why we’re here… and most importantly… I wish to protect all those who surround me!”

As the sword lay at his side, Alexander scooped it up to slide it into the newly created holster that shared similarities with the ones on William and Robbie. It showed their inner self, different to those in the Phantom Thieves, which all of them were unaware. He looked away for a moment, then back at the tarot card.

_**... The Star.** _

_**...** _

**“WITH ME NOW! MAPONUS!”**

A swipe caused the card to smash, soon revealing the new Persona behind the blonde. It was fairly human like, holding a large harp in its right arm whilst bearing armour all over its body. Maponus represented music and poetry, also bearing similarities to Apollo, another deity. With a swipe of the harp, Maponus created a barrier in front of The Reaper, blocking it out for a moment as Alexander acted quickly, running to the pair behind him as Robbie grabbed one of William’s arms.

“We need to go! Now!” Robbie shouted, trying to run whilst carrying William.

“Stop for a moment! There’s something trying to say itself in my mind… this might help…” Alexander said, throwing a hand forward as a green spark of energy surrounded both William and Robbie. This was in fact, Dia, the healing spell as the wears, tears and bruises all over their bodies started to disappear, William in particular jumped up in the air, realising where he was as The Reaper had broken through the psychic barrier with ease, chasing the trio down.

“Forgot about celebrating! Fuckin’ move it!” he shouted, with the other three following behind. William remembered that he forgot his skateboard, but be damned if he would save that over what would be certain death to this monster. They for what felt like miles, finally reaching the same platform that led out of Mementos. The Reaper fired one more burst of energy towards the group, which hit the area just behind them, sending each member flying upwards. Luckily, they landed on the platform itself, even if the landing caused some more damages that they had just healed up.

**…**

**…**

**Finally.**

**…**

One by one, each Persona user rose up to their feet. Being in their new outfits felt weird, looking around at each other in amazement and surprise. William knew that somebody he looked up to was Sherlock Holmes among other detectives, wanting to find out what their inner selves were like to create these outfits.

At the moment, he just didn’t want to talk about anything, not saying a word before reaching out for his phone and tapping the button to escape the Metaverse. Exhaustion had overcome all three of them, finally escaping the confinements of death itself. In one way, William was happy, because he’d gotten his friends to experience this other half, technically letting them help him solve the mystery of the application and what their organisation had to do with installing it on their phones.

There were many, many questions he had, but as soon as they emerged outside into the real world, all of them were too shocked and fatigued to speak. William felt his voice giving out on him, his previous major injuries reduced to scratches and small bruises in the real world, another mysterious change as both Alexander and Robbie looked fairly okay.

“.... we talk tomorrow, about what just happened.”

And they barely said a word to each other for the rest of the night.

* * *

**Shibuya - Takamaki Household**

**30/05/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

It was a quiet night in Shibuya, with only a day left to go before the original deadline, the Phantom Thieves had some small worries still surrounding them, however with how the change of heart with Kamoshida went, Ren in particular was certain that this would go off without a hitch. There was one lingering fear though, which is what Kawakami would do in response to having her heart changed. She was a damaged soul when they fought her in the Metaverse, but vowed to change her ways. An important detail that Ren obtained were the names of the Takases, who were the guardians of the student that Kawakami had tutored and died. He realised that after a discussion with Morgana that their hearts would needed to be changed as well, setting a date for the same day in which Kawakami would supposedly act.

That day would be tomorrow.

Their names had already been entered into the Meta-Nav app, revealing a distortion in Mementos as opposed to an entirely new palace. A detail that Ren noticed was when looking at the Mementos outline, or simply the map of the first floor, he noticed that many more distortions had been opened up and available for them to access. All names he didn’t recognise too, or even remembered entering…

… he just thought his memory was a bit foggy.

“Heyyy, silly… put that down, you can’t go into Mementos from here and at this time of night.” the voice below him said, to which Ren looked down to see Ann closer than ever to him, having wrapped an arm around his waist. “I really appreciate that you came over again, i-it can be hard at night all alone sometimes…”

Ren couldn’t help but blush, he still couldn’t keep his cool in situations like this. It wasn’t like he was complaining, however Ann definitely brought down all the barriers that usually make him shut off everyone else. “It’s my pleasure,” he said. “You know that I try my best to help you feel better.”

“Is it really fine though? You said that Sakura-san scolded you for coming back too late the previous nights… and you were at mine…” Ann’s voice was soft, feeling regretful in her own actions towards her boyfriend. Ren leaned back, propping his glasses up whilst still holding Ann close. He was getting used to this feeling.

“It doesn’t matter to me what he says… I mean, I want to get closer to him, of course… as my guardian.” Ren replied, taking the time to wrap his hand tightly around Ann’s. “Not that many people appreciate me at the moment… but I’m really happy that you’re one of them, and probably at the top of the list, eh?”

Ann giggled at the comment, feeling her fingers touch against Ren’s, edging him closer to him as her head lay against his upper chest. He was forced to lean further back on the couch, laying straight across it with Ann doing the same. The two were unmoving for a few seconds until Ren pulled out his phone once again, going to his contacts list, pressing one of the contacts and bringing the phone up to his ear.

The phone kept ringing for a few seconds before somebody answered.

“Hey, Sojiro… it’s Amamiya.”

A moment passed as Ann tried to scootch up closer to the phone, getting a little too close as a giggle was picked up on the other side of the call. Ren, knowing that his guardian just heard that, slightly blushed and pushed her slightly down.

“No, haha… yeah, I’m with a friend, and I wanted to ask you if it’s okay if I stay at their house for the night… I’ll put it extra work at the store for a compromise.”

Another moment passed, with Ren’s eyes looking other to the side of the living room, seeing his school uniform, that he had removed in favour of a grey shirt and trousers, hanging off of the side of the opposite couch. Meanwhile, Ann was still wearing her varsity jacket, however had opted to wear shorts over the Shujin tights.

“Morgana has already been fed, yeah, I’ll get up early to come on over and check if everything is alright.”

…

“Thank you, and I do apologise… we lost track of time…”

…

“Okay, okay… thank you, goodbye…”

He tapped to disconnect the call, placing his phone over on the table just to the side of the two. Ren felt Ann flip over, laying fully on top of him now and placing her head in the crook of his neck. The couch wasn’t the greatest place to go to sleep, however, with a quick look at the clock on the wall, he realised that it was probably for the best that neither of them moved. Ann just wanted to be close to him for as long as possible, snuggling up and starting to close her eyes.

“Was it fine for you to stay here?” she said slightly tired, letting out a small yawn as Ren layed back looking up at the ceiling. He didn’t know whether to hold her closer or just let something happen by itself.

“Mhm. I’m fine, it’s just a few extra hours at the store whenever school is out.” Ren responded, letting his arms stretched outwards until he himself started feeling sleepy. His eyes were flickering before he looked down to see Ann already falling asleep.

Ren let out a happy sigh, thinking to only a few months ago to where his life was. His thoughts were interrupted by the television that was still on in the corner, showing the late night news and a report on… Shujin Academy? Ren couldn’t exactly move much, instead though, he squinted his eyes to get a closer look at the headline running underneath.

…

And then his eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

**‘SHUJIN ACADEMY TEACHER REPORTED MISSING’**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a full week and a day, but we're here! This chapter is 90% dedicated to my OCs and the main thing is that I do hope you are enjoying their journey so far. As a Brit myself, I thought looking at the story from the perspective of a foreign young adult apart of a top government organisation would be an interesting way to incorporate further details of the plot I have in store. Cognition, the difference between a 'warrior' and 'rebel, as well as the mention of a 'conspiracy' are details that I do hope you're spotting, because they'll be playing a huge part in the future!
> 
> Another detail is that some elements will remain the same, including Madarame, etc. However, a lot of elements will change like you've seen with Kawakami to give them more importance to the story. 
> 
> Thank you and I really hope you're enjoying what I've cooked up so far! :D
> 
> Now, for an extra few notes!
> 
> Some info on the current OCs Personas...  
> Alfred - coming from Alfred The Great, King of Wessex from 871 to 886. The most famous of the Anglo-Saxon kings, defending Wessex from the Vikings. Is the only King of England to be given the title, 'the Great'.  
> Ossian - coming from Scottish mythical figure and narrator, Ossian, who emerged from 1760 as one of the most popular bards/storytellers. His poems featured lots of heroism and wild untamed scenery.  
> Maponus - coming from the Roman-Celtic god of music and poetry, also identified with the god, Apollo. 
> 
> And the OCs Metaverse outfits and meaning...  
> William - coming from the classic British detective, ala. Sherlock Holmes. Representative of a leader and discoverer of truth.  
> Robbie - coming from the typical fantasy hero, ala. Link from The Legend of Zelda. Representative of somebody striving to be better every day and hot headed to an extent.  
> Alexander - coming from classical composers, ala. Mozart. Representative of the brains, somebody who takes pride in their work and wants to make creative ideas a reality.


	15. Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The deadline has arrived and Sadayo Kawakami's change of heart has resulted in some unexpected developments, however, the Phantom Thieves have a plan to extend their operations and start building something bigger to combat an apparent larger enemy. On the other side of town, the new set of Persona users attempt to find out what exactly the Metaverse means and what it also could mean for their future.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**31/05/16**

* * *

 

**Silence.**

Never before had this certain apartment been so quiet in the morning, especially with four people now living in such a place. It was early in the morning with the large window in the living room showing the clear blue sky and overseeing the rest of Tokyo. Standing up and leaning against the nearby balcony, cigarette on his lips and hands down by his side, is William Reed. The fact that he was wearing a sleeveless shirt was rare, exposing the work he had put into his shoulders and arms a lot more clearly, with a pair of tight jeans to match the black vest. He still wore the black beanie, only exposing his bushy sideburns and the thick tuft of hair falling down his forehead.

He hadn’t spoken to the others since last night, since ‘that’ incident.

Whatever that creature or monster was, William knew that in his mind, they should have been dead. The plan to get attacked by the unknown beast was not part of his gambit to awaken the powers in his friends, however it eventually paid off, albeit if it was extremely close to going the opposite way. After discovering that injuries sustained in the alternate reality translated to minimal damage on the outside, it was a shock to all of them, however a few bruises stuck with the trio after sustaining pain like never before. William thought back to their powers, their costumes and whatever Persona was buried in their hearts. Did it have some sort of meaning? He knew that his had something to do with a ‘warrior’, that’s what the talking cat said regardless. Yet, that was the only lead.

Then how they awakened, all three of them in situations where despair seemed imminent. William through the desire to get revenge, Robbie through desperation and willingness, Alexander wanting to protect his friends and himself. It all had to mean something. That’s why the world kept dragging him back in, because it was all so intriguing that the application was presumably set upon them by their own agency. MI5 still had no contact with them, with the emergency number now out of service. In an attempt to try and fly home, William discovered that he was unable to access the bank account MI5 had supplied to him and the other agents. He had his own, with minimal cash, but it wouldn’t suffice for all of them.

However, a good thing was that neither of them really wanted to fully leave, especially after last night’s discovery and intention on fully discovering why this place exists and why they were chosen. It was like all hope had gone, however…

“... hey, you alright?”

From behind him, a voice called out, forcing him to nearly drop the cigarette before removing it and blowing some smoke out. It was Robbie, messy ginger hair and all, wearing a zipped up short sleeve blue jacket and black shorts. He walked forward with a mug in his hand, lifting it up to sip some of that morning coffee.

“Deep in thought, huh? Even over two years, some shit never changes with you…” Robbie said, chuckling slightly as he took another sip. “If you’re wondering how Alex and I are, we’re fine… a few marks, but they’ll go away soon, innit.”

“Good to know, where is he regardless? And Florence, too. I woke up to see her getting ready to leave,” William stubbed out his cigarette, taking a deep breath in and out whilst walking back into the apartment for a moment to chuck the remains away. He stepped back outside, leaning against the balcony once more to look over the city. “She’s always busy that girl, makes me think she’s doing her own investigation or something.”

“Actually, you’re pretty spot on…” Robbie started to say, placing an empty mug down on a small table nearby. “... there was an incident not too long ago involving a train conductor. April, I believe. A crash occurred and it killed some people, apparently the conductor suffered some sort of mental breakdown and crashed the train on his own free will.”

William thought for a moment, those words just seemed to stick out to him, for no apparent reason. “... mental breakdown…? Was there any evidence to prove this or was it an accident?”

The other nodded, looking below him to some vehicles and people passing by. Robbie placed his chin in his palm, slouching down slightly. “No accident, can’t have been. The police report said that there were no signs of foul play either on the conductor or in the train… actually no, there was something that grabbed my interest, not in the good way either.”

“Give it to me, bud,” William said nonchalantly, blowing out some more air as Robbie stepped back for a moment to watch as Alexander was walking through to the balcony area. His attire of choice was a fancy looking black robe, hair let down with a cleanly shaved face. Alexander took his place to William’s right, the trio of Persona users now staring out into the city.

“... you really just gonna come out here and not say anything?” Robbie leaned on his elbow, turning over to Alexander who exhibited a smile in return. “We were just talking about that subway crash, y’know the one you and I investigated?”

“Ah yes, I do remember. The day after we got too drunk for our own good in Kichijoji.” Alexander replied, standing with his arms behind his back, simply taking in the city just like the other two. “Continue though, Rob, I believed that you were speaking to Will about something.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Robbie leaned back further, stretching his arms outwards. “The train conductor, yeah? Reports were saying that he was found with his eyes completely blank, black ooze exerting from said eyes and his mouth. Quite a disgusting though, don’t you think?”

“Fuck me… you could say that again, that’s… wait, you did say mental breakdown, correct? Was that the exact term used when reporting the incident?” William asked, placing his hands behind his head. “A sudden change in mentality, like a switch of sorts... “

“No, no… that was just my speculation, news reports were just describing it as some ‘horrible accident’.” Robbie said, somehow bringing disappointment to William’s face.

“Then why did you… fuck, forget it for now, because there’s a bigger topic we somehow still haven’t discussed as a team.” William continued, leaning back over against the balcony along with the other two. “Yesterday… I-I want to apologise for dragging you two into that and nearly getting you killed. I didn’t even fathom that whatever attacked us existed down there.”

It was silent for a few more seconds, William looking down to the ground as he felt a hand slap him on the shoulder. “... don’t sweat it, man, that was something else and you know what?” Robbie started, standing up straight compared to his usual slouching position. “I’d do it again, especially now we’ve got this crazy power to utilise.”

“I’m inclined to agree here,” Alexander now turned to the two, brushing some of his hair backwards. “Your words resonated with me when you were discussing how that application got on our phone. The upgrade process came out of the blue, and for them to immediately break off all contact? Our suspicions are rising, Florence included.”

“Really? She’s actually decided to question the higher ups?” William’s eyebrows raised, knowing that if Alexander wasn’t the ‘teacher’s pet’ of the group, then Florence would fall next in line. Her mind was always work heavy and had been the most vital member of the group over the years, even if William was considered the leader of the unit. “What about the others?”

“Haven’t spoken to them in days, seems they’re busy with something or the line is dead... “ Alexander spoke, hand raised to his chin. “However, if we want to continue investigating this mysterious world then we need to be careful and improve our game. I suspect mastering how to fight these creatures will benefit us heavily.”

“It’s sorted then, right? We’ll be investigating the cognitive world in search of why it exists and why the hell it was placed in our hands?” Robbie asked and pulled out his phone, looking straight at the blaring application that was now embedded in with the other applications he had re-installed from his previous phone.

Right next to Tinder, it fits perfectly.

“Sounds like it, but how do we start? We only know one place in this Metaverse and there may be a lot more to explore.” Alexander was curious, taking out his phone and scrolling up and down the application through the various menu options. The fact that it had menu options was the most concerning, however most of them seemed to be locked off.

“Look at the menu, it’s locations that have been visited,” William showed off his own phone, showing his version of the menu.

**CASTLE OF LUST**  
**MEMENTOS**  
**CIRCUS OF GREED**  
**???**

“Three at the top, a mystery one, then a whole bunch of blank spaces… which I assume we have to… find? The factor that strikes me are the greyed out options. A castle and a circus, both of them I can’t access if I tap on them. It simply says that the location has been erased.” William had curiosity in his voice, as he should. His teammates were looking at the same set of menu options, with Robbie tapping the question marked option.

“A name… location… and distortion? The kanji is a bit hard to understand from here, but the name… that’s… Junya… Kaneshiro?! Wait, how the hell did he get here?! That’s the mob boss I’ve been looking into!”

William put his hands up, chuckling slightly. “That was me, heh. You leave your files out all of the time and I wanted to experiment with a few things, so after saying Kaneshiro’’s name… boom, there he was. I’m thinking that it’s some sort of mega distortion, since there’s no apparent connection to Mementos…”

“You told us about those thieves who also inhabit the Metaverse, yes? I have a feeling that these other locations connect to their work, however, I can’t comprehend what they’re all about. We should aim to be a lot more careful,” Alexander stepped away from the balcony, looking inside the house as the door rattled for a moment before opening. “Our peace has been disturbed.”

The boys all nodded at each other as William was first to clear himself away, heading back inside the high end apartment as Florence was just closing the door. Her red hair was tied up in a bun, with some locks still hanging down past her ears. The attire of choice was a rare yellow sweater, with the usual black skirt and heels. “You look nice,” he said, walking off towards where his room was located.

“And you need to clear out your room, I found your anime collection underneath the bed.” Florence was already walking away, getting in front of William before he jogged to stand in front and block the entrance.

“First off, don’t look under or around my room. And second… can I just have my room for an hour or something? You’ve been hogging it for too long.”

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**31/05/16**

**Morning**

* * *

 

May was coming to an end. It would be the third month of Ren’s stay in Tokyo when June rolled around, yet the previous expectations when he was first arriving on the train couldn’t even match up to the life he was living at the moment. He had friends, a talking cat, a gateway to another world that allowed him to act against the corrupt part of society, and hey, he even managed to get a girlfriend whilst he was at it. Whilst his parents didn’t even want to speak to him after the conviction, they certainly wouldn’t approve of Ren in a relationship at this age. They were as old fashioned as they come. Despite the ongoing issues with Sojiro… he’d take his guardian any day other his parents.

It was sad, and unfortunately true.

Here he was, sitting in homeroom with no sign of Sadayo Kawakami despite the deadline being today. It was last night, sleeping on the couch with Ann when he saw the news headline of a Shujin Academy teacher reported missing. And his suspicions were confirmed when they started talking about Ms. Kawakami, saying that she hadn’t been seen or heard from by anyone. It worried Ren and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, heavily. Ren was still thinking back to this morning, waking up in a place that wasn’t the attic of Leblanc. As soon as his eyes opened and he saw Ann laying on top of him, Ren was thankful for everything in the world at that moment. It didn’t take long for her to wake up, nuzzling against his chest as the two got ready for school in seperate rooms to each other. Ren in the front room, Ann in her own room.

The relationship was still early, so getting to know each other ‘that’ well would have to wait. Ren felt uncomfortable with it anyway, so he didn’t want to worry Ann. I mean, technically they slept together? No, no… he shouldn’t be thinking about that when there was a high sign of danger with the person the group had been aiming to save for some time. Somebody in class noticed his worries though, the girl sitting directly in front of him.

“Hey… are you okay?” Ann asked, shifting her chair slightly closer to his desk without raising suspicion from the substitute teacher and other classmates. “I don’t like it when you look so down…”

“I’m fine, Ann, trust me. It’s just that today is the day, where Kawakami was going to rat out Ryuji and Mishima… potentially we could’ve been lined up for expulsion just like with Kamoshida.” Ren leaned on his elbows, looking down on his desk to see Morgana still sleeping. It was a regular occurrence now with Ren’s improved capability in classes.

“We should be the ones worried, but I understand… you’re such a caring person and I know it kills you to see anybody in potential danger. Listen, we’ll meet up with Ryuji at Lunch and…” Ann started to say, pushing Ren’s hands down so she could hold them tightly. Who cared if the girls next to them were glancing every few seconds with odd looks?

That was when the door swung open to the classroom. The most surprising factor? It was Principal Kobayakawa who walked in, holding a piece of paper in his hand. Ann quickly shifted back to her desk, facing the front as Ren did the same, both of them not bothering to straighten up and instead slouch over the desk.

After some conversing at the front between the two staff members, Kobayakawa cleared his throat to get the rest of the class to quieten down. His first order of business directed him over to the two clearly uninterested students, Ren clearly on his phone and Ann leaning forward with her head resting against her arms. “Amamiya! Takamaki! Good lord, sit up straight and listen!”

As much as they didn’t want to, Ren sat up with a smirk whilst Ann remained as bored as ever. Kobayakawa then turned his attention to the rest of the class, raising the sheet up to his face.

“Your teacher, Ms. Kawakami has been away for quite some time due to some personal problems and difficulties in working at this school. Today, she has written us a letter in relation to news reports concerning her apparent disappearance,” Kobayakawa stated, however Ren noticed that he clearly couldn’t care less about the situation. It angered him on the inside, and it showed on the outside with the serious glare he was giving the principal.

“... despite the trouble that Ms. Kawakami has caused us, it’s within our best interest that I share this information with her class.” the principal continued, starting to read the letter out in his low down and monotone voice.

To those of Shujin.

I have taken the past few days to reflect on my actions as a teacher and a person. My place and stature in society has been undermined because of certain individuals and now, I cannot take it. It was only the other day where I felt my heart had changed for the better, and from this revelation, I must do what’s best for me. As of this moment, I am resigning as a teacher from Shujin Academy and moving on to reflect my later life. From where I will go next, remains unknown. To my class and those who I have done wrong, I apologise. I will be unable to right those wrongs, however, I hope you get the best out of your life, because you deserve it.

Kobayakawa looked to continue for a moment, and then he seemed to read to himself for a moment and stop. His face said it all. There was more written on the letter that he didn’t want these students to know and Ren could identify that.

A quick glance between him and Ann as Kobayakawa left confirmed that they needed to retrieve the letter. To save Kawakami, and to get her rightful place back as a teacher.

* * *

 

The conversation in the courtyard was full of speculation, mainly coming from Ryuji. Ren, Morgana, Ann and Ryuji himself all stood around opposite from one another, Ryuji leaning against the vending machine, Ren looking outwards towards the practice building and Ann standing fairly close to him, although not too close to alert the other two. It was a surprise that Ryuji hadn’t picked up on the rumours and whisperings around school. Morgana was sitting up near Ren too, and all three students did wonder why some others weren’t talking about how they hung around with a cat in the courtyard. It didn’t matter though.

“What?! She resigned? This wasn’t in the plan whatsoever! Wasn’t she just supposed to confess and we could’ve moved on with our lives?” Ryuji shouted, causing Ann to rush over and tell him to be quiet.

“No, Ryuji. That was only half of the plan,” Morgana was next to speak, turning back towards the rest of the group. “Ren and I both agreed on something risky, however the change of heart will guarantee that our secret stays safe. We’re going to make your teacher… a confidant, if that makes sense. Ren believed that was the best term to go with.”

“I’ll expand on that,” the leader followed up with, walking around so he was in clear view of the other three members. “As part of changing her heart, getting Kawakami on our side, an informant of Shujin Academy, will benefit us greatly. I know that we all worried about the rest of this school, Kobayakawa included.”

Ren leaned against a wall, looking onward to see the typical student council president doing her patrol. Makoto Niijima took one glance at the group, then at Ren who glared at her. It was enough to send Makoto in the other direction, however she definitely seemed to make a note on her phone.

“I really don’t like her,” Ann said, now standing next to Ren fully with her arms crossed, staring at the departing Makoto. “Didn’t you say she was stalking you near the arcade, Ryuji?”

“Uh huh, something like that. It was pretty sus for somebody like her. I don’t really care now though, she’s too busy trying to do the ‘best for the students’ or some shit.” Ryuji responded with, walking across to make himself more noticable. “Anyways, what were you saying, Ren?”

“Making Ms. Kawakami a confidant of the Phantom Thieves. Not her, but I have others in mind, however, until I can fully gain their trust then no information about our group will get out there. Got it?” Ren turned to his teammates, who all nodded. Morgana then decided to strut forward, sitting up on a nearby ledge.

“As the Phantom Thieves, as much as we’d love to stay within secrecy, there’s reasons to believe that we need to have these… confidants to expand our reach. Operating in the shadows, gaining information from influential figures in various areas… all in the name of justice!” Morgana triumphantly shouted, prompting smiles from his teammates as Ren walked back to sit down on one of the benches.

“Morgana said it all, but I want to know if you guys agree with our plan. Somebody else who came up in our discussion was Mishima, the kid who runs the Phan-Site. Having him on our side would allow for that site to be a much bigger helping hand. For now, don’t bother. He needs to understand where and when to fanboy over us.” Ren said that statement firmly, although with a bit of light heartedness to it all. Mishima was just a bit obsessed, and it’d take some time before they could make him a trusted ally.

Kawakami was different, because of the one factor being the change of heart.

“I absolutely trust in your leadership and word, don’t you worry! It makes sense to me!” Ann happily said, trying to hold herself back from showing affection here. She couldn’t help but throw an arm around him similar to how Ryuji would do it. Ryuji on the other hand, chuckled and pounded his right fist into his left hand.

“Oh, hell yeah I’m cool with that! We’re gonna become famous after all, and getting as many bastards as possible is part of that. Imagine if we get these confidants out all over the world!” Ryuji was ambitious, that was clear. Morgana was quick to shut him down though.

“Ryuji! Do you not know the other part of being Phantom Thieves? We should be operating on the current level we’re at now, there’s no reason to expand even out of this city! As much as I’d love to steal a mass amount of treasure and make our name known… it should be a careful process. Our leader is still considered a criminal among the general public.” the feline quietened down at that last statement, still realising that Ren was still trying to get around that label.

Ren though, looked into the distance, his eyes full of determination.

“Let’s talk about something else, mainly, how to take this Phantom Thief knowledge into the real world…”

And that was when he explained his plan to the rest of the group. To find out what Kawakami was really thinking.

* * *

 

The plan was simple, and they needed Mishima to pull it off.

It was about an hour after school had ended, most students had left apart from those who attended extra-curricular clubs. Ren, Ann, Ryuji and Mishima all resided on the rooftop until it was time to pull off the plan. Ren himself convinced Mishima to assist them, which didn’t take much convincing with Mishima already idolising Ren and his group as the potential mysterious Phantom Thieves.

Mishima and Ryuji were to stage a fight outside of Kobayakawa’s office, or at least somewhat near it to drag his attention. They were then to run out of sight and force him to try and chase after them. It would give Ren enough time to sneak in, or lockpick his way in, to the office and search for the letter. That’s where his third eye would come in handy. If for some reason he couldn’t find it in time, Morgana would signal Ann to distract Kobayakawa further, which is why she stood with a stack of books in her hands.

“So, uhhh… how do we start this?” Ryuji asked, leaning against a wall of the third floor with Mishima. It was a good distance away from the office in question, but close enough so it could be heard. “Do you want me to like… threaten you? Punch you? Y’know… for as much as everyone at Shujin called me a troublemaker, I don’t feel like doing anything of the sort now…”

“... um, we can… uh…” Mishima started to say before he simply turned around and kicked the wall at full force, causing him to yell out. Ryuji just kinda stood there before realising what Mishima had done. “Mishima! You can’t... ! Uh… run from me anymore! I’ll beat you up, man!”

His acting was just as bad as Ann, who was down the hallway observing this all happen. Kobayakawa came out of his office just in time, seeing the scene and waddling over to try and dissolve it. It was his duty as the principal after all. That’s when Ryuji and Mishima ran for it, going off in different directions as the principal followed Ryuji down to the second floor.

Then, her phone buzzed.

**(1) new message from: Ren**

**Ren: am I clear?**

**Ann: yaaas.**

**Ren: ;) brb**

In an instant, the raven haired boy dashed from behind a corner, Morgana perched on his shoulder as he walked over and into Kobayakawa’s office with ease. The lockpicking skill he had obtained in the Metaverse didn’t have to be used, which was a relief and a disappointment at the same time, because showing off was one of his strong suits after all. Ann gave him a wink before putting her phone away.

_“Get ‘em, hot stuff.”_

She swooned for a moment and then suddenly, a few footsteps behind her caused the blonde to turn around. Facing her was Makoto, the ever so diligent student council president. It was a bad position for Ann to be in at this point, trying not to lose her focus on the scene that was happening.

“Takamaki-san, shouldn’t you be heading home?” Makoto asked, a hand on her hip as Ann walked forward a step to further face her. “Actually, Niijima, I’m waiting for Ren, so if you’d be so kind as if to back the fuck away… that’d be great!” Ann was sarcastic, pretending to smile as she hoped Ren would just get in and out in time.

“And where is Ren? I suppose you’d be willing to answer me that question considering you’re waiting for him,” Makoto asked, aiming to pencil in further on why Ann was up by the principal’s office so late. With a quick look around, she noticed that a cat was now at the small gap in the door, looking left and right every few seconds. Hearing a few sounds in the office, she suspected where exactly Ren Amamiya was. “Be honest with me, Takamaki-san. You’re not plotting anything are you?”

“Shut. Up.” Ann was sharp in her words, getting closer to Makoto as the two nearly butted heads. “For too long, you’ve been following my friends and I. Now, you want to get further into our business and specifically, my own business that I have with my **boyfriend?!** ”

It was only then when Ann realised what she just said, gulping and going slightly red. Well, there went another person who knew of their relationship that wasn’t an inconsequential student of the school. She just hoped Makoto wouldn’t pop up more often in the future. Ann remained flustered though, even as Makoto started to speak up once more.

“You and Ren are dating then, I presume? And here I thought that after everything that happened with Kamoshida…” Makoto started, looking behind her to see that the principal was coming up from a set of stairs and was about to turn the corner. She certainly didn’t expect Ann to drop her books for a moment and shove her fully backwards.

“Don’t mention his fucking name with me and compare it to my relationship with Ren… don’t you even dare!” Ann didn’t give Makoto a chance to finish, yelling straight in her face as the student council president clearly had a look of guilt. Deep down, Makoto wanted to say that she suspected the two would get together, not comparing the rumours with Kamoshida.

“Now…!” Ann looked behind her to see Principal Kobayakawa approaching, with Ren still not out of his office, she thought quick and turned back to Makoto, slapping her across the face to get rid of more of that anger.

“Ladies! Ladies!” Kobayakawa shouted, waddling over again as Ann scooped up her books, trying to block the entrance and transfer his attention over to Makoto who was reeling from the slap. Makoto couldn’t look more shocked as the principal approached, speaking up first. “Sir… I was just asking Takamaki-san to leave and…”

“Oh, be quiet! I think I was the one trying to leave and YOU were stopping me!” Ann put her acting skills to use here, seeing the shock on Makoto’s face as she stepped in front of Ann, trying to push past that lie. “Takamaki-san, you know too well that you were here to… to…” she started to say, hesitating as Kobayakawa stepped in between the two, not noticing somebody escape his office behind him.

Ren was sly and sneaky, darting out of sight quick enough so it looked like he walked out of the staff toilet. Makoto was the only one to notice, looking behind her as Ren pulled out his phone, a letter of sorts down by his side and the cat who was at the door now following him. Ann’s phone then buzzed as Kobayakawa told her to get moving, causing Ann to smile, then jogging away and up to the other boy.

The principal turned around in time to see Ann going back down the stairs, nobody else in sight as he turned back to Makoto, who was quietly protesting in her head. “Niijima… I’ve told you about this… whilst I am suspicious of Takamaki-san, you need to be more subtle in your approaches…”

“Sir! I… I, yes… I apologise. My hunt for these ‘Phantom Thieves’ has still turned up no leads, unfortunately…” Makoto said, a hint of guilt in her voice.

“Amamiya? Sakamoto? Mishima? It’s been a number of weeks, Niijima, if you had the same intuition as your sister then this threat towards Mr. Kamoshida and even Ms. Kawakami… which was unexpected to say the least…” Kobayakawa’s voice stuttered at the last sentence, which made Makoto believe that he wasn’t fully telling the truth. Still though, a threat towards Ms. Kawakami.

“Sir, this is the first time I heard of these ‘thieves’ targeting another teacher of Shujin…”

“Oh, Niijima, it was nothing… Sadayo wrote us a letter that I had to read out to that class of hers. Regardless, she said that similar to Mr. Kamoshida, Ms. Kawakami received a calling card. Although, I have chosen to disclose this information with her class. Do not let this get out.” Kobayakawa said sternly, waddling over to the office door which had been slightly let open. It didn’t warrant any suspicion though.

“I expect you to find further evidence on who these ‘Phantom Thieves’ are, as they’ve caused the strange behaviour of two teachers at this school and I won’t stand for it anymore. You know what’s on the line…” Kobayakwa shut his door, making Makoto jump slightly through the sheer force of it being shut. He seemed frustrated in someway. Makoto let out a sigh, walking forward and towards the stairwell. Again, she didn’t want to give him any information, none whatsoever considering what he was like.

…

**HOURS LATER**

Meanwhile, Principal Kobayakawa was still rooting through his office, attempting to find the letter from Kawakami that had the distinct calling card attached to it. It was no longer there, with the principal himself planning to try and hone in on these thieves. This plan that he was involved in could not go anymore wrong with the removal of Kamoshida… and if ‘they’ were to call and find out that another change of heart had happened, that of which he failed to stop after orchestrating Kawakami’s forced scheme with the Takases… he’d be as good as dead.

The phone in the office rang, which made Kobayakawa hesitate for a moment, looking at the number on the other end and sighing as he picked it up. “Hello… Takase-san. I’m sorry about what happened with Sadayo…”

…

“... what?! What do you mean you’re pulling out?! You can’t do that with what has happened to…!”

…

“You didn’t like what we were doing to Sadayo?! She was your pawn! Our pawn! This was going to boost all of your pockets, even your own! Especially after what happened to…!”

…

“No… no! You gave her back all of the money we took?! Are you insane?! What the hel-”

…

“... you can’t! Please, don’t tell him… or the media! We don’t need the reputation of this school to go down any further!”

…

“... I see… just…”

He slammed the phone down, slamming a hand against the desk. Then a realisation came to his mind. Could the Takases… no! And with the letter missing that contained their names… with the calling card attached…

Kobayakawa felt useless. The Phantom Thieves had just struck again.

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**02/06/16**

**Morning**

* * *

 

It was two days after the Phantom Thieves had finally executed the final part of their plan. Ren had retrieved the letter, in which his suspicions had been confirmed. Ms. Kawakami had sent the exact calling card they prepared in the letter, as well as listed that the two Takases had been controlling her this whole time along with Principal Kobayakawa, making it the main reason for her departure. The trip to Mementos was a short one and the two shadows fell nearly instantly, showing how weak that part of the conspiracy had become. Ren, as Joker, gave them the instruction to cancel their part of the deal with Kobayakawa and force him to rehire Kawakami, otherwise they would release information about Shujin Academy and the further corruption within. As much as the rest of the group would love to expose Principal Kobayakawa, they didn't need it at this stage, wanting to expose him themselves as Ann pointed out that a palace was extremely likely for him to hold.

Ryuji pointed out that it’d be good to go after somebody outside of Shujin Academy to not raise as much suspicion around them, which everyone agreed with, a rather smart call from Ryuji at that moment.

Kobayakawa already knew that rehiring Kawakami would be best, even if she had pointed him out in the letter. The change of heart forced Kawakami to think in favour of the Phantom Thieves, taking up the job in her rather downed state. However, she came in on the second day of June and walked straight into Kobayakawa’s office. The principal profusely apologised, saying that in order for Kawakami to not get anything out there about what happened, he would promote her to Lead Advisor of the Student Body, tasked with looking over students whilst also teaching her own class exclusively. Sadayo was taken aback by all this at first, not expecting such sincerity from Kobayakawa, however, a note that was delivered to her house in the morning.

It simply read to go to the vending machine in the courtyard during lunch.

Walking down the halls of Shujin after the wrongs she had done to various students was an awkward one, getting glares from the few she tutored and stole money from, and even those who had current debts. Of course, these debts wouldn’t count now as Kawakami believed that she had turned a new leaf. How? Sadayo didn’t know at all, although to get hired and given such a prominent position allowed her to resume life with a stable mentality and financial problems were sorted.

The newly promoted teacher followed the note, walking around the corner to see three students all waiting patiently. Ryuji Sakamoto was the first one she noticed, leaning against a vending machine on his phone, a black cat perched on the vending machine itself and looking down at the blonde boy. To his left on the same bench sat Ren Amamiya and Ann Takamaki, who were doing their best to hide the fact they were holding hands. Sadayo slightly smiled at that, seeing joy and young love in her own students.

“Hi,” Ren simply said, waving his hand as Kawakami felt slightly awkward to be hanging out with students. Where they the ones who gave her that note? “Before you ask, we’re the ones you’re looking for. Don’t be scared, haha.”

The chuckle at the end forced Kawakami to act more cautious, of course, this was the boy with a criminal record. And even then, Ryuji Sakamoto had apparently owed her some sort of debt… would he take her forgiveness at this stage?

“Amamiya, Sakamoto, Takamaki… what is this about? I understand if you missed me whilst I was off from my duties… but I need to talk to certain students and…” Kawakami started to say, seeing Ren get up, hands in his pockets and stood directly opposite her.

“Kawakami-sensei, I suggest that you hear us out.” Ren was firm in his voice, standing back slightly now as the other students looked towards him. “I want to keep this short and simple, because your resignation, the calling card, the fact that you were hired again, and the fact that those pesky business owners aren’t bothering you anymore… they all relate to us.”

… what?!

Sadayo was shocked on the inside, showing it through a slight gasp. He was right after all. In her bank account, she had received an extremely large sum of money from the same source she was used to depositing cash into. Then, a regretful voicemail from Mr. Takase and Mrs. Takase one after the other. Just like her, she remembered them saying something about a change of heart, a detail that she wrote in her resignation letter before getting hired once more out of the blue.

“Think back to the day when many of these red calling cards were posted up and around school, then remember a few days later, when Suguru Kamoshida became a shell of who he once was and confessed to his disgusting and vile crimes,” Ren’s voice never seemed to go any higher or lower, remaining at the same tone. Kawakami thought that such words couldn’t come from a shy boy like himself.

“You got one too, correct? That was from us,” Ren said, the corners of his lips twisting into a slight smirk.

“Y-yes, although I couldn’t possibly retrieve it for you as I sent it when I first resigned… as further proof of what had happened to me after I saw what happened with Mr. Kamoshida... “ Kawakami knew what happened, hell, she was deployed by Kobayakawa to remove every single calling card from around school. That was still when his threats and punishments from that inner circle were just starting. When she was still a pawn of that group.

“There’s no need to worry, please. We want to forge a deal with you, as part of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. You’ll have a chance to fight back against this corrupt society.” Ren was quick to the point, looking to Ann and Ryuji who were nodding at him. “Let me explain in further detail…”

It took Ren a fair amount of time to explain how the group came to be and the previous adventures they’ve gone on. Kawakami remembered key details from what he was describing, from the day he was late, to the day Kamoshida confessed and even when she visited Ryuji and Mishima as a maid. Sadayo revealed that she had quit that job, having a stable enough income to continue as solely a teacher. Another interesting fact that the group found out was that Mr. Takase was in charge of the maid service, relieving Kawakami of her duties out of guilt after paying her back in full.

Ann actually took over as leader for a moment to speak to Kawakami, I wonder where she was getting those tendencies from? Ann said that compared to Kamoshida, the group knew that Kawakami was a good teacher forced into a bad situation. They used another world to fight her ‘other self’ and successfully change her heart, to which they then did the same thing to change the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Takase not too long after obtaining the resignation letter she had handed to Kobayakawa.

“In short, we’d like you to join our group as an informant, or as we’ve decided to call it… um…” Ann stopped, placing a hand to her chin and thinking of what the word was.

“A confidant!” Morgana shouted out, sounding like a meow to Kawakami herself as Ann nodded, smiling to herself. “That’s it! You’ll be a confidant to our cause, here in Shujin Academy to help us get the right information and assist us in exposing anymore corruption.”

Morgana expected some sort of reward for that, looking over at Ann who simply continued on with what she was saying. “Look… I know it’s a lot to take in, because it was just like that for me… but we’re fully serious about this, all of us. Just like you, we’ve been taken advantage of and used-”

“... I’ll do it,” Kawakami cut in with, surprising all of the thieves as Ryuji decided to take charge now. “Really?! You’ll actually do it?” his voice was full of excitement, something that Ren was quick to jump up and calm him down from. “Aww, hell yeah!”

“... but, um… I wanna clear something up first, Ms. Kawakami. I’m sorry for…”

“The incident with the maid service? Just… it’s better if we both forget about it... I’ll pass the message along to Mishima-kun.” Kawakami shrugged her shoulders, letting out a sigh as she looked up with newfound confidence. “The truth of the matter is that it’ll take some time to get my name back in the good graces of students, and that’s the same for all of you, isn’t it? Amamiya-kun, Sakamoto-kun, both of you in particular after what happened with Kamoshida. And then you Takamaki-san, once again what happened with Kamoshida and I’m so… so sorry what you had to go through.”

Ann looked down at the ground, her legs crossed over one another. “T-thank you, it just brings back some bad memories… but I found these guys and now, I couldn’t be happier.”

“I don’t get how you go into this other world, and I’m not sure what you do…. I suppose that’s just a sign of me getting older... “ she sighed again, lifting a hand up to go through her hair. “I still have my own back to get against Kobayakawa, and this Phantom Thief business… I owe my life to you for saving me… and for getting rid of this dark side of myself.”

Ren took back charge, standing in between Ann and Ryuji as he took his phone out. “We can explain anything as we go, however, by aligning with us then you have to take on all responsibilities and consequences related to the group. I’m not sure what will happen in the future, but with our methods, it seems unlikely that somebody could track us down... all possibilities need to be under consideration.”

Kawakami took another deep breath in and out, deciding whether to associate with a band of rebellious students was the way to go for her teaching career. Then again, they saved her from a horrible life.

…

“Again, I’ll do it… just don’t expect me to interact much with you in order not to raise suspicion. If you want to message me or call me, then that can be arranged… for as much as my maid job was stressful, I got some experience in chores out of it… it’s the least I can do to help your cause. Just don’t let anyone find out about that, okay?” Kawakami crossed her arms, however, managed a smile before holding her hand out to Ren.

“This is a lot to take in… but I believe that you kids can change this school with whatever crazy thing you’re doing. For me… please, make sure that Kobayakawa confesses to everything he’s done, him and that circle…”

Ren shook her hand, confirming the newest member of the Phantom Thieves, albeit in a non-fighting way. They wouldn’t risk bringing her into the Metaverse and it’d be better to stick with the current lineup they have. The group stood back a moment as Ren noticed the bell signalling for the lot to get back in class. He then remembered something for a moment as Ann reminded him in a whisper. Before Kawakami said goodbye to walk away, Ren stopped her.

“There’s one more thing I need you to take care of… and this will cement our name among the public…”

* * *

**Apartment 035**

**02/06/16**

**Evening**

* * *

 

It was a normal evening in Apartment 035, the home of secret agents William Reed, Robbie Allister, Alexander Smith and the absent, Florence Westbrook. The three lads were gathered around the large television, all sat on seperate parts of the two couches. Alexander still in one of those special robes of his, hair messy and hanging down, Robbie with a long sleeved black shirt and adidas shorts, William in the usual black beanie, white shirt and ripped jeans. The television was blaring the local news, something that had become a habit whilst investigating criminals as a detective, secret agent, whatever their job description was.

**‘LOCALS SPEAK OUT ABOUT “PHANTOM THIEF” PHENOMENON”’**

“Hmm?” William was alerted to the television, hearing the reporter speak out about a group of young people, adults and even a teacher that supposedly have their lives to owe to a mysterious group calling themselves ‘Phantom Thieves’. His eyes widened, tapping the others to point at the television. “Guys! It’s fuckin’ them! They’re talking about them!”

“The Phantom Thieves… were they those students who accessed the cognitive world before us?” Alexander said, intently analysing the television as it showed anonymous interviews with various people of Tokyo.

“I submitted a request on what’s called the… ‘Phan-Site’ to the Phantom Thieves to help me stop this bully circle, and then the next day, he was apologising to me and gave me the money he stole from me back!” a young boy said, clearly belonging to Shujin Academy from the uniform.

“They’re the greatest! My ex-boyfriend wouldn’t leave me alone so after submitting a request to the site, he stopped and said sorry to me the next day, and now we’re friends again!” a young girl said, again, belonging to Shujin Academy.

“I was having an issue at work with my boss who constantly made me work overtime and threatened my job and family, so I thought a request like this would do nothing… yet here I am with a new job, and he changed just like that. Whoever these thieves are, they’re fighting for a good cause.” an older man said, wearing a suit and tie with a nametag.

And they kept on coming, a small mixture of students and even adults. William didn’t know how the hell they were doing all of this at a fast pace, and it confused him. He wanted to do more for the community. All through the interviews, something of a ‘calling card’ was discussed and presented. It looked rather poor in design, but definitely conveyed the message.

_Just how did they do it?_

…

“... shouldn’t we have a kickass name?” Robbie stood up, stretching as the television now showed another anonymous source, who was listed as a teacher of Shujin Academy. “I mean, c’mon, these students have gotta have some competition. And ain’t we gonna keep going back to that world to discover what it’s all about?”

“I mean, does it matter?” William scratched his head, questioning his friend as he also stood up and yawned. “Could be cool, I guess as a means of communication.”

…

“What's your favourite Star Wars movie?” Robbie then asked, directly towards William who didn’t take long to respond. “Rogue One, why do you ask?”

“Then that’s our name,” he nodded, grinning and pulling out his phone to write it down in his notes.

“... really?”

Whilst the two kept bickering about the name, Alexander was focused on the ongoing news report. The teacher kept talking about the Phantom Thieves, saying that she doesn’t know who they are, but that they saved their life and in return, she got all the people they had ‘saved’ over the past month or so to make sure the right message gets out there.

His curiosity peaked, thinking of the words back in his mind again.

Tomorrow, they’d be making another trip to Shujin Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was quite rushed, not gonna lie. I still hope that it delivers in terms of quality! Rogue One are official now and you'll be seeing a lot more of them. The next arc technically splits into two, with the two teams going after seperate targets. That means that the Phantom Thieves will be going after somebody else after Madarame, and I reckon it's pretty obvious who's going to be the next target. ;)
> 
> Again, I'm taking this story in a completely different way to what many are used to, but I hope that's what makes it stand out! :D


	16. The Artist's Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's quiet at Shujin Academy for once, with a new confidant joining the Phantom Thieves, their existance is spread all around the school much to the chagrin of teachers. Ren, Ryuji and Ann plan to search for a new target, and a certain run in with a familar artist has Ren's interest peaked. Meanwhile, William Reed questions his own past, whilst Rogue One starts searching for clues on Junya Kaneshiro's whereabouts.

* * *

**Pre-Chapter**

**??/??/10**

* * *

 

“I’m h̴͇͈̱̩͎̼̜̹̠̺͑͊̊͜o̴̲̲̩̯͔͚̭͙̥̿͊͗̀͗̐͑̚m̶̢͙̿̂̈́̀͋̎͂̾͂̑̑͑̊͠ȩ̶̡̭̳͈̱̭̯̙̤͉͍͉͐̿̓̐͛̉̉̇͝͝!̵̝̭̯͎͔̣̞͚̋̈̍̆̍̓̈́̐̐”

A cheerful and young boy called out as he shut the front door to his house carefully, taking off his brown leather shoes at the front door and nearly sliding them inside the conveniently placed shoe rack. He made sure his tie was straightened up and his jumper was dusted off, walking through the corridor as he heard the distinct sounds of his mother and father only a room away.

T̷̡̩͍̜̼̘̰̼̼͈̺̄͊́̈́̽͋̌̕͜ḥ̸̢̧̦̠̭͍͔̙͛͆̓͆̿̇e̵͕̲͋͗̋̾ͅ ̸̗͔͍̒̋̐̍͒͌̈́̈́̌͛̚͝ͅb̸̢̧̢̘͍̖̲̫̮̺̺͕̝͐̊͜ͅǫ̷̟̟̭͉͎̹̈̐y̴̧͔̟̣͍̖̹̺̥̲̼͔̣̎͜͝͠͝ ̴̘̖̺͕̰̤̚s̷̢̛̘̩̭̪̼̗̗͉̮̲͔̥͌̈́̃̍̊͒̇̆̃͜͝͠i̶̢̧̨̧̯̗̙͎̣̫̬͔͓̠̋̂̓͐̓̇͆̄g̴͉̉̑̂̎̉͆̈́͌̈́̽̎͂̐͘͝h̴̨͕̘̼͈̲̐͌̏̓͊̍̈́̅͆̕͠e̸͕̱̯͋̉͝d̵̨̛̙͚̆̉̓̈́̂̄̓̕͠, at this moment, there wasn’t a day when they weren’t at each other’s throats. He slumped up the staircase and thought to himself when it would all end, when he could have a simple family life without feeling like he was just an object to be thrown around between discussions. His mother would declare that he was hers, whilst his father said the exact opposite and…

… it never ended well, but the boy always tried to keep the spirit up in the household, especially with his older sister still living upstairs and she at times was the only person he felt safe enough to talk to. He called her name, trying to see where she was and for once, there was no reply anywhere in the house as the boy climbed up the stairs further and walked around to the door to her room. Wrapping a hand around the handle, he went to push it open.

“̸̺͌̇̒͂̐̄̿̔̇̌͗̒̐̚͠W̶̖͖̮̪̞̭͙͗̇̾̎̒̏͛̍̑̍͝i̸̢̼͍̙̭̹͎͍̰̲͖̋͊͑͊̇͛̑̍̆̽͋̚͝͝͝ḻ̵̨͎̫̣̱̞͖̪̝̝͊̎͗͘l̵̢̼͈͙͋̓̇̓̇̌̎̍̓͂̈́͆͘͝i̸̡̧͔̲͎̗͎̼̩̖̘̝͇͊̓̓͛̃̇̇̐̊͐̒͋͜ͅa̴̼͓͇̦͚̟̓̉̌̉͝͠m̵̨̛̲̜͕̱̺̣̳͓̣̩͈͍̓͌̓̀̇̉!̷̦̎͛͋̓͋̾̓̐͜͝”̵̡̼̹̩̜͇̝͍̣̔̓͑̇

His name called out from ḑ̸̱̠͕̞̖̟̮͈̺̞̣̖̪͓͌̏̇̎̌̿̃͛̏̍͂̚ǫ̷̞̝̲̅̊͋̎̈̿̑̊͘̚̚͜͝w̵̜̠̍͑͂̄̆̂̓̍ͅṋ̸̡̨̢̨̟̥̣̈͛̓̑̇̑̿̓͜s̸̛̲͈̣̭̲̦̺̫̖̣͎̮͒̿̅͆̀͒͋͑͘͜ṭ̸̡̯̠̜̉͗͝ả̸̢̨̧̬̼̺͐̈̊͆͌̎͐̏̿͜͜i̷͙̹͕̎̾̂̆̌̆̿̋ŗ̸̲̰̻̪̺̞̞̙̹͔̤̄͂̌̊̿̋̄̈́͜͝ͅș̶̈́̈̐ͅ ̵̪̹̺̤̹͔̠̦͈͉̻̣̮̮̲̿̀͛a̶̩̳̖̩͆̋̉͊̈́͂͜n̸̡̛̬̞̬̤̮̘̤͓̬̰̫̭͖̍̃̒̏̽̈́̐̈́̀͌̈́͛͜͝d̷̫̲͎̺̰͔̳͚͉͐͑̿̾͜ ̷̺̳͖̮̼͉͕̃̂͊̈́́̅̌̿̚̚̚̚͠͠ṫ̶̹͙̖̻̈́̇͌̑̂̆̔̍͂h̸̨̯͍͔̘́̉͗͐̈́͊͝͠͠e̵͎͖̘̖̪͇̖̮̟͐̍͗͑͌̓̿͘ ̸̡̛̻̫̬̭̰͔̾̿̌̃̿͊͆̈́̃̓̌͘͝ḃ̶̡͈̝̰ǒ̵̜̗̝̪̫̌̓̏͒̚y̵͖̌͋̓̋̅ ̵̠͚̰̖̄̄̾̾̌̈́͒̍̌͝k̷̨̡̨̝̬̹̭̪̰̲̞̦̂̍͌̄̌͜ņ̶̢̨͖̻̫̼̳̈̍̐̂ȩ̶̡̩̗̺̭́̐͗́̂͑̐̽̌͑ẇ̷̫̦̭̞̏̀̋̈́̿̽̈̐̕͝͠ ̸̳̻̘̖͎̈͌̇͐̾͛̇t̸̛̛̟͚̺̉͗̓̎̑̆͑͛͑ḩ̴̧͔̮͍̙̳͆̑̎̍̑̑͝a̶̛̬̥̳͙̥̙͍͖͒̿͛̈́̉͒̅̍̏́͂̎̏͠ẗ̴̜̤͓̱͍̝̟̺́̒͌̅͑͒̕ ̸̢͉̟̜͕̯̙͎͓̙͎̎̊̂͒̈͌̂͐͌̎̽̓̍̚͜͝ͅḧ̷̢͎̥̖͕̟͔̳̖̺́̀̄̍͑̈́̍͌͌̚̚͝͝͝͝e̶̺̳͕̝̳̬̬̗͙̜̭̠̞͒̈̓̀́̓͌̅̈͘͜͝͝͝ ̷̡̟͙̣͈̹̮̯̰̈̍͛͋̊͊̊͌̃̀̔͜͠h̵̢̼̬͕̟͕̣͈̩̦̘͗̄̒͆͂̿̎́̈́̓̚ä̷̜͙́̓d̸̺̗̫̤̗͙͎͒̒̌̾̍̽ ̸̧̛̬̹͉̪͉̣̰̣̖̩̲͚̉̿͑̇̈̂̄̓̅͊̕͝ṭ̴̨̢̙̣̰̞̰̙͂̈́͆͠ơ̴̢͎͓͍͌̌͋̈͒̉͋͑̽͆̍̉̕̕ ̶̻̂͗̆̈̄̈́̕b̵̡̬̯͍̗͖͇̙̯͚͙͚̬̈͑ḙ̶̢̨͓͇̳̳̟̟̎̅ ̶̢͇̥̥͙̜̰͖̝̻̍̅̾͜͝ͅd̴̢̈̇̈̍̍̈́̈́o̷̧̡̧̪͈̥̪̣̰͇̾̀͂̓̄̀̋̌͐̈́̔̄̋̚͝ͅw̸̨̛̗̞̫̱̠̘͕̭̼͍̙͉̞͚̔͋̌͒͋͛͆̈̎̾̓̐͝n̶̢̡͕̰͉̘̯̟̼̥̫͚͉͌́̈̈́̾͗͗̌̌͜͝ ̶̛̝̞͓̜̝̩͛͆̍͒̄̈́͊̇̈̈́́͠ͅţ̵͖̱͊̂̉̑͂̔̈́͐͘͝h̷̛̛͙̼̓͌͑̈́͘ę̷̧͓̪̥̖͎̌̓̈́r̵̢̛̫̰̹̬͉̮͐́̈̋̎̑̊̽̐͝e̴̟̮͇̣̦̝͐͋͜ͅ ̵̢̛̩̈i̸̘͈͔̅̄̊̋̽n̵͚͕̗̠͊̋̆͗̄̿͑͑̅̇̾̚̕ ̵̛̯̬͍͑͐͂͐͋͐̈́͠ä̵̧͚̱̦͇͖̤͕͈̦̠̮͓̰͔͐͆̌̓͂̈̀̓̚̕͝n̷̬͓͖͉̱̪̥̒̈́̓͌̀̑̎̇̈́͜ͅ ̷̨͙͈̦͓̟̳̣̝̞̻͍̇͆̎̀̅͐̾̋̌̑̕͘̚̚͜͠i̶̟̖̝͍͚͗̍̇͒͂͑̔ņ̵͎͍͚̣̥̹̱̜̳̓̐̔̍͌̉̾̕̚͘͝s̶̼̠̑̈̅̍̽̕t̷̛̜̟̺͚̩̻̳͇̥͓͚̞̳ͅa̴̢͇͕̲̲͖͉͔͈͓͕̻͖̔̈́͆̕ͅn̷̨̢̥̤̮̯̰͍̤̳̯̄́̚ͅţ̵̛̪̦͙͚̟͕̫̺͙̥̘̱̊̑͐̾̂̍͗̆̄̒̐̅́̈, that was the kind of family he lived with. William quickly dashed into his room and threw his rucksack onto the single bed before walking out and quickly making his way back

…

_No, that’s not how it went…_

_What was this memory that had been implemented?_

_No, no… he was right, it had happened. He recalled it in the ‘other world’._

_It was just a simple day, being told that your father was the only person you had left in life._

_And the fact that he b̴̧̡̝͇̻̬̘͙͍̯̃̔̉̽͐̌̈́̒̆̓̓̾̎͌͝ĕ̷̮͖͔̞̩̦̊́̄̋̿̊͗̀̒̚̕͝͠à̴̰͇͙̳̱̄̽͝t̶̡̮̤̣͈̫͇̬̦͐̑̋̋̒̕̚ ̷͈͎̬͕̙͍̘͕̭̖̝͔͌̉̇̎̈́̕ý̶̨̟̯̝̟̦̓̽̏̿̔̓̕͘̕ŏ̴͈̽̂͆̓̓̂͂͗̄̚͠ų̸͖̣̜̟̥͈̫̖̜͙̤̆͊̽̏͗̃̓͜ and c̵̛̥̜̻͛̆͒̈́̒̔͂͆̈́̀͝a̸̧̫͙̗̼͐͗́ļ̵̢̢̛̛̮̝̦͚̯̺̌͑̂̎̓͗̌̔͑̄͜ͅľ̵̡̧̞͈̜̫̫̖̹͚͈̍̓́̊̂̈́͆e̶̢͍̬͚̤̲͉̠̣͇͖̎̓͐͑̓͊̿͐̍͘͝ͅd̴̨̮̠̺̪̰̣̪͇̂́̋͗́͊͋̊̽̇͆͆̏ͅ ̷̯̭̪͈̪̤͑̆͆ý̴͙̬̀̿̿̈́͑̚ͅŏ̴̞͕̻͓̰̫̼̖̖̳̥͌̑ư̵̛̯͐̃̋̑͗͌͑͐̃̆ ̶̘͋͑̅͐̈̚n̵̨̠̳̩̱̫̗̮̬̯̾́̎̍̂̽͘͘͜͜ͅa̷̧͎̰͇̩͓̳͔̕ͅṃ̸̻͉̘̆̽̓͝ḙ̴̛̝̦̬͕̞͍̜͙͙͓̱̝͘͘͜͠ͅś̴̟͍̲̫̺͊̒̋̄̀̆͗̉͛̚._

…

_What did you do in response?_

_When you turn à̸̡̙͎̻̯̱͉̋̒̓̔̅̾̇̆̾͗̀̅̕͠n̵͖̬̍̓̔̈́͝ͅg̶̡͓̥̭̪̱̱̰͍̭̋̓͊̇̑͆̀͐̈́̚̚͜ȩ̷̡̰̞̺̝͉̔̈́̀̂͐̓́̈́͠r̸̡̩̞͙͙͐̋̇̇͋́̓̽͑́̚͜ into action._

…

_No, again, you were a normal kid that so happened to be recruited into a top governement agency off a simple t̵̡͇̯͓̄͋̓̚͘͝e̸͈̫̹͖̘͚͈͉̱͒̒͐̂s̸̛̺͉̥̬̩̮̾̈̎̂̋̓͑͊̉͝t̸̩̽͋͑̈́͋̔̍́̋._

_What’s real and what’s not?_

…

_Define the word…_

**_B̷̢͖͖̘̝͚̦̲̈́̀̅̑͆͛̌̅̏̉̆̈́̚͜ͅL̵̼̱͖͙̹̗̤̖͝Ō̶̡̭̦͕̖̘̦̪̣̟͓͈̓͋̉̃͛͠͝ͅO̵̧̱͈̜͈̩̤̦̊̔̑̆̅̎͒̊͆̊̚͘͘͝͠D̵̥̳̭̩̣̦̯̫͕͍̗̻̄̈̍̽̓͛̊̐̽L̵̨̨̤̟͈̭̥̳͈̼̦͙̐̈̎͂͝U̷̯̪̯̤̣̜͎̺̞̥̦̺̾Ṡ̴̞͎͉̝͚̠̯͈͚̙̻̉͗̕͜ͅͅȚ̵͖̩͔̦̗͓͕̪̆̈́́͜_ **

…

**!**

* * *

William woke up.

It was late in the morning, it could basically be the afternoon. William opened his eyes to see three sets of eyes staring right back at him, he fluttered his lashes slightly, using his right hand to pinch the bridge of nose before extending the hand out and rubbing it all over his face. He wondered what the hell had happened just then… was it a nightmare? Some sort of weird dream? William shook his head and sat up, feeling sweat dripping from his forehead as the other three people that lived in the apartment block were looking fairly concerned.

“Shit… you alright, dude?” Robbie was the first one to speak anything, sporting a different attire than usual of a light grey short sleeved shirt with a blue tie. “I left you asleep before getting dressed, and then we came back to see you trashing about slightly.”

“...” William was silent for a moment, feeling through his hair and standing up. “... yeah, sorry… I don’t even know what that was. It was like I was reliving my life before the whole government agency madness took over my future…”

“Before you were 16, then? That’s the age we all…” Alexander stopped, being interrupted as William threw his hand outwards. “Yeah, literally, it must’ve been… because I saw my dad and…”

It was at that moment a sharp pain hit his head, forcing William to hold a hand to his head, grit his teeth and nearly drop to a knee if Robbie and Alexander hadn’t rushed over to hold him upwards. “... thanks,” he said, fully able to now stand up, shaking his head about and adjusting his casual wear of a black jumper and shorts. “... j-just ignore me, it’s fine… I promise…”

“You sure, man? For a second there it looked pretty bad. A banging headache, maybe?” Robbie scratched the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable in the get-up already, seen by the tie adjustment and buttoning the top button back up.

“Trust me, a nightmare is a nightmare… I’m fine and I’ll get over it. It was just for a moment there when I felt that something wasn’t right about my past... “ William wasn’t making much sense, stretching outwards as Florence stomped against the hard floor, getting all of the boys attention as Alexander was trying to tuck in his shirt of choice.

“We need to get moving,” she sternly said, walking over towards the door in that usual suit and skirt combination. “Are you all aware of our current objective? It was the two of you…” Florence points towards Alexander and William. “... who alerted me to the news the other night about this.”

William stood to think for a moment, hands behind his head before the idea popped into his mind. “Oh! The report on these Phantom Thieves, right? It’s just a myth though, there’s no way that…”

“It’s concerning that after the report of Suguru Kamoshida confessing to a ‘change of heart’ after a calling card was posted, we get reports of more popping up, and more people confessing to the same thing happening to them or others close to them. We could be dealing with a criminal activist group that specialises in dangerous methods to blackmail these people.” Florence confidently said, flicking some hair back which got eyes from all of the boys.

Alexander cleared his throat, walking over to grab a cup of coffee that he had prepared earlier. “Perhaps… it’s quite a spectacle when you think about it, but yes we should be careful… right?” he said, looking towards the other two who flashed him the ‘okay’ sign.

“You three know something that I don’t, correct?” Florence turned around, glaring straight at William in particular who stood up whilst being passed an ironed shirt from Robbie, taking the chance to just change then and there.

“Is this just another method to make yourself stand out from the group? It’s rather rude to assume such things, because we’re all in the same boat. People are saying that they’re feeling one way one day and a completely different way the next.” In this time, he had taken his shirt off, replacing it with the light red shirt with buttons. “If you want to split off, then do so, but even through my initial investigation, I found nothing apart from…”

Florence took some time to think before interrupting, cracking a smile for a change and folding her arms.“Lies. I looked through your room, for investigative and research purposes. Care to explain why you have the files of three high school students? And any information on how you obtained them would be much appreciated.”

“... heh, Adam and I are pretty good friends, what can I say? Vic was able to work around it whilst he was out and send me their information.” William said, fully buttoning up his shirt and still carrying a cheeky grin on his face. “I’ve cleared them of suspicion, they’re just normal high school students.”

“Even the one with a legitimate criminal record?” Florence held a hand up to her chin, with William now looking away. He was cornered. Defending a known criminal would raise suspicion around him, even if he had heard Ren’s story over what happened… then again, could he trust him? There was no real way of knowing this mess.

“... fine, you got me red handed, I’m only looking into him because of that. He could be causing issues with that label on him.” William pretended to think, alerting Florence to another detail as she turned to open the door.

“I’ll discuss this with you later, but we need to get going to investigate every single corner of Shibuya for detail about these alleged Phantom Thieves. Do not be afraid to use force if necessary.” Florence finished off with, gesturing for everyone to follow as they did so, Alexander grabbing a coat on the way out to throw over himself. Robbie stuck with the grey shirt and tie, whilst William rolled the sleeves up and undid the top button, not bothering to adjust his hair in any way.

They were all out of the door when Florence jabbed one of her heels into the trainer of William himself, sending a sharp pain up his leg for a moment. It was to get his attention as they stood facing each other. “The hell do you want now?” he said, shaking his foot slightly after the unexpected jab. “That could’ve seriously-”

It was then her new phone, the same as all of theirs, was flashed in front of his face. An image of the outside of a diner he’d always see when walking in the shopping district of Shibuya. “Look towards the entrance, it’s the student with a criminal record as you had discovered.”

“Ren… yeah,” William remembered his name, still seeing him in Leblanc whenever he chose to visit for a cup of coffee. Another detail sprung out to him, somebody alongside Ren and clearly holding his hand. It was the same girl he and Robbie had encountered in the mall, and who also gave him some of the worst pain he’d felt in his life from her whip in the Metaverse. “What do you mean to show me here? That they’re a couple…?”

“Will. Remember that we’re dealing with somebody who was put on probation for assault against a government official. The fact that somebody is now paired up with him could make both of them just as dangerous,” Florence said, zooming in to get a better look at their faces. “Whilst Robbie and Alexander will investigate in and around Shibuya for information on this Junya Kaneshiro, Alexander in particular said he wished to look into one of the nearby schools, I would like for both of us to gather more information on these two.”

“Isn’t that stalking?” William asked, scratching his head before receiving a slight elbow to the arm.

“Hypocrisy, how long have we been doing this?”

“Too long.”

They headed off down the corridor, with William taking out his phone whilst keeping a bit of a distance. He opened the Meta-Nav application, staring into it deeply for a moment and then towards his female companion.

_Nah, it wasn’t worth it._

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**03/06/16**

**Lunchtime**

* * *

Life at Shujin Academy felt… fine, just fine for once in Ren’s life.

Despite the fact that Sadayo Kawakami was no longer teaching his class at homeroom, she was in a prime position to obtain information for the Phantom Thieves’ cause, working exclusively with the student council to oversee the overall student body. He knew that Principal Kobayakawa couldn’t risk firing Kawakami over media reports already tearing into Shujin Academy, with more having the potential to rise if any more incidents occur. The Phantom Thieves had changed the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Takase not too long after learning their names from the letter in which Ren had stolen from Kobayakawa’s office, which he found slightly comedic when they showed up on the news alongside Kawakami and others who had requested help from them on the Phan-Site.

It was part of the deal they had made to their cognitive selves, along with having Kawakami somehow round up each and every person they had helped so far, from student to adult. There weren’t many, but it made an impact on the local news, spreading the talk of these ‘Phantom Thieves’ further around the school. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the name of the group, something that made Ryuji Sakamoto quite happy, walking into Ren’s class at lunchtime, stretching his arms out. He already saw Ren, Ann and Morgana sitting down and talking to each other, joining in by sliding over the desk to sit right besides Ren. The group were now all in their summer uniforms, Ren was wearing the school’s polo shirt untucked and the top button undone, Ryuji went for his own custom bright red graphic t-shirt, whilst Ann was similar to Ren apart from the fact she had a blue jumper tied around her waist.

And Morgana, well, was just Morgana still, poking his head out from underneath Ren’s desk.

_“... did you see the news report the other night on these Phantom Thieves? I heard they might go to our school…!”_

_“... oh, you mean the one where all those people, even a teacher, came out and said that this whole changing hearts stuff has actually helped them…?”_

_“... you think it was really them? A change of heart sounds a bit out there, if you get what I mean…”_

_“... that, there’s no way… but then again, it seems too convenient for it all to be a coincidence. Mr. Kamoshida was the start...”_

Ryuji was happy to hear about this, the word had gotten around fairly quickly among students. He raised his fist up, alerting the attention of others before he sat back down on one of the desks. “... pretty sweet though, right?” Ryuji said, a grin still on his face.

“Not too loud, Ryuji.” Ren cut in with, hand up to his chin. “It’s been a wild couple of days, and if I’m being completely honest here, I’m surprised that Ms. Kawakami was able to go through with our plan.”

“Mhm.” Ann could only get that out, looking around at many students in small groups, one in particular talking about the news report and the myth of these phantom thieves. “Have you found any information on our next big target?” she then asked, knowing that they would soon need to act once again as a group.

“I only just started looking yesterday. There’s no way I’m gonna find one that quick.” Ryuji crossed his arms, standing up as Ren was too busy looking at this phone, and at the Phan-Site in particular.

“Most of these requests are the same as usual… the news report definitely got this sight more attention… but it feels like petty issues that can be easily solved.” Ren continued mindlessly scrolling before letting out a sigh, shutting his phone off and sliding it into his pocket. “We need a big break.”

“How about all of us hang around Shibuya for a while after school?” Ann suggested, prompting a nod from Ren. “I dunno, maybe walking around might give us something to go off on.”

“I got nothing going on, so why the hell not? And I was thinking of getting some ramen anyway!” Ryuji said, upbeat as Morgana now emerged fully, trying not to get the attention of other students in the classroom.

“Ren and I both came to the conclusion that this principal of yours can wait, we need to see how he reacts and if our teacher confidant can get any information to help us out. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a palace, however, targeting a much higher figure in society will help us get out there.” the feline piped up with, prompting more nods from the team.

“By the way, I decided on the TV station. What about you two?” Ann said, surprising the boys for a moment as they looked on in confusion.

“Huh…? What are you on about-” Ryuji started, prompting Ren to stand up and make his own point. “The social studies trip, right? It slipped my mind for a moment.” Ren spoke, pushing his hair up slightly.

“Oh, crap! Yeah! Urgh… I just wanna ditch it…” Ryuji sighed, taking a moment to ruffle through his hair too. Morgana then glared up towards him, which seemed fairly normal at this point with how the two were always bickering over anything. “You’d better go to your school activities, and this applies to all of you. How many times have I told you not to draw attention towards yourselves?” Morgana’s response only forced Ryuji to agree with him.

“Feels weird trying to be a good student still, do you reckon maybe that’ll still turn some people’s heads?” Ryuji questioned, because even if he really wanted to keep this under wraps, it’d take a lot of work for someone of his calibre.

“Just quit bickering, please.” Ren said, with Ann smiling towards her boyfriend. It wasn’t much here, but he always knew how to handle situations like this.

“Then let’s all choose the TV station! I heard we’re gonna get to watch them tape a show! Maybe there’ll be actresses there!” Ann said excitedly, clasping her hands together whilst Ren looked towards the clock in order to keep track of time. They wouldn’t have much time left to chat about this.

Ryuji’s eyebrows raised from the mention of actresses though, forcing a smile before he rubbed the back of his head, then placing his hands into his trouser pockets. “Ah, well. Not like I got anything else to be getting on with. And hey, Morgana’s right. Showing up might just keep the teachers off of getting all suspicious of me.”

For once, Ryuji was on the same page as Morgana. Even then, Ren could see through what he was really thinking.

“TV, right? … maybe I should get a haircut…” Ryuji grinned to himself before seeing that it was soon time to get back to class, saluting back to the group before jogging off all giddy. Although the remaining trio sighed within their heads, Ann’s mind was off somewhere else, trying to guide Ren over to her desk and away from Morgana for a while.

“That guy is such an idiot… I hope nothing happens…” Morgana spoke, watching as Ren got up to sit on his desk and out of view. Seeing that other students were starting to file in, Morgana expected Ren to come and sit back down. He couldn’t exactly poke his head out and look what was going on between Ren and Ann or risk not even being allowed in the school, which would then also risk Ren’s placement.

On the other side of the desk though, Ann was looking for Morgana, and found nothing, risking it to reach forward and press her hand on top of Ren’s. She couldn’t express how real it still all felt, to have somebody like him, even if she hadn't known him for not even three months yet, the concept of a soulmate kept popping into her head. Ren even once said that he felt like he had known Ann all his life when they first met underneath the canopy on his first day of school.

“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” she asked him, wanting to turn his hand over to interlock fingers. Ann still felt nervous to just do it out of the blue, despite being fine with it on several occasions with Ren. She could tell by the redness of his cheeks that he felt the same. “I have a shoot for a magazine… aaand… I want you to be there!”

Ann rubbed the back of his hand with her fingers, finally seeing him turn his hand over for a moment. She felt his hand wrap around hers, looking up to see Ren’s gracious smile.

“I’d love that.”

* * *

The rest of the day went by as normal, nothing much to note apart from Ren exchanging a wave with Kawakami in the corridor at the end of the day, leading the two to exchange in conversation about findings. Kawakami said that the student council had put up some sort of flyer, wanting information reported to them about certain worries that had been travelling around the school. It wasn’t to do with the Phantom Thieves, instead some students had been reported as being blackmailed by an unknown crime group into doing their dirty work. Many students have looked into the student council, who have returned with nothing. Kawakami tells Ren that he should be careful when walking around Shibuya. Ren agreed with her, as well as Morgana, who appeared when Ren walked away to tell him that this could lead to a new target.

On the other side of school, you had Ann, walking through the corridors with her bag on whilst getting the usual stares from students. She had built up quite the reputation from Kamoshida, to hanging out with Ryuji and Ren, and now having a relationship with the latter that a fair few people knew about… including Makoto Niijima. Ann was heading towards the stairs to head down to the first floor, where the rest of her group would presumably be waiting for her.

“Um… Takamaki-san?”

A voice just to the right of her caught Ann’s attention, and who it was, it was quite the surprise. Yuuki Mishima hadn’t exactly had the courage to speak to Ann much after what had happened with Shiho. Apart from that, Ann knew he was the creator of the Phan-Site, which had come in handy a lot recently “Oh, hey! How are you, Mishima-kun?” she said, hopefully not holding up her trip out with Ren and Ryuji.

“I-I’m fine, thanks for asking… and I’m sorry to be a pain like this, but I saw you browsing the Phan-Site in class and… well…” Mishima was clearly nervous, stuttering for a moment before continuing. “... what do you think of the Phantom Thieves?! And well, I’m actually the creator of the site.”

Ann had to put her acting to good use here, smiling for a moment before turning back to the blue haired boy. “Of course I’ve heard of them! They’re awesome! W-well, they saved me from Kamoshida… so I owe whoever they are like, everything.” she scratched her cheek, trying to hide the obvious fact from Mishima. “I heard something about the Phan-Site on the news as well! You must be really helping the Phantom Thieves’ cause, huh?”

Mishima fully grinned for a moment, nearly jumping up and down from remembering the exact moment they discussed a ‘fansite for these thieves’ on the news. It must’ve been seen by everyone in Tokyo! He was technically famous… right? “Y-yeah! They saved me as well… s-so I’m doing everything I can to help out!” he excitedly said, causing Ann to smile back. Seeing somebody so fired up and supportive of their cause was a really nice feeling, especially Mishima, who she knew was abused by Kamoshida in the past.

“They’d appreciate that, I’m sure.” Ann said, looking off towards her phone, with the new lockscreen of Ren trying out a crepe for the first time. It made her smile, looking towards the stairs as she couldn’t spend anymore time delaying the guys. “It was nice talking to you, Mishima-kun. And don’t feel afraid to come and hang around with Ren, Ryuji and I at lunchtime!”

She said that in remembrance of the group’s confidant plan, slowly introducing more people they trusted. The admin of the site that was helping them take down target after target would come in handy. Mishima smiled at this, waving at Ann with the girl starting to head down the stairs.

“Oh! Takamaki-san! I forgot to ask you something!”

“What is it?”

He turned away for a moment, the nerves still present.

“Are you and Ren-”

Before he could mutter out the last bit of that statement, Ann held a finger up to her lips and winked, seeing a few students walk past. Mishima definitely got the message though, giving her a thumbs up before heading off in the opposite direction down the corridor.

* * *

**Shibuya**

**03/06/16**

**Evening**

* * *

The search for information had turned up many blanks so far for Rogue One, the newly named unit that didn’t make much sense apart from the group’s love for Star Wars. Florence didn’t know that though, still thinking they were simply Unit 11037 of MI5.

Robbie had chosen to investigate the outer suburbs of Shibuya, trying to find information on the criminal activity of Junya Kaneshiro. Being by himself was nice for a change, although he was distracted by a woman calling herself Mika, trying to chat her up to no avail. Robbie noted that she was definitely a model of sorts, maybe he’d have a chance in the future when his work schedule cleared up. Apart from that, Robbie’s search was mainly full of false leads and those that went nowhere.

Alexander was mostly separated from the group, hanging out around Shujin Academy to try and investigate any more clues not only for Kaneshiro, but after the news report that showed a teacher and students from Shujin Academy discussing the Phantom Thieves, he wanted to see how big the craze really was. From William, he knew that three students were definitely members, along with an apparent talking cat. Alexander would question that fact if he hadn’t already been dragged into the Metaverse on the brink of death. A few students gave him glares, of course not expecting to see somebody in a coat and tie hanging around the school area, especially a foreigner for that matter.

William was stuck with Florence, who patrolled the streets of Shibuya in search of Ren Amamiya and Ann Takamaki, who William knew were the Phantom Thieves they were after, however, Florence was mostly in the dark, only seeing Ren as this criminal who was now dating somebody who could be just as dangerous. He just thought that Ren got himself a good woman, nothing else. And also, he couldn’t trust anybody anymore, especially with a banging headache. He wanted to be in his own room, relaxing and playing a game or two of Smash Bros. Unfortunately, Florence had occupied his room for the foreseeable future.

Her red hair flowed down, with the suit and skirt combination getting a few looks from many people in the streets that William immediately looked to block out, staring back himself. Along with the shirt and tie, William grabbed the scarf and beanie he always wore on the way out, as well as his MI5 badge. He had to use it a few times in the past, although, bribes were also necessary to cover up their identity, even the police force didn’t need to know. As the two were walking, William lowered his scarf, taking a good look around towards an alleyway.

“Flo’, look…” he said, tapping Florence on the shoulder who quickly turned around, making a mental note to get William back for calling her that. “Doesn’t that look suspicious… a high schooler and a random guy dealing something…”

He was right about the scene. It was a Shujin Academy student, evident by the logo on the polo shirt, who was nervously glancing around, even towards the agents’ direction at one point before taking some sort of white package from the older man and getting what he felt were instructions.

“Distract the student, I’ll take care of the man.” Florence said, walking forward before giving William a chance to respond. The sequence happened nearly in a flash, with Florence not paying attention to the student walking off towards William, instead directly heading for the dealer in question.

“Fuckin’ hell, give me a heads up, at least…” William started walking slowly, pretending to not look at the student, his eyes peering straight ahead until his senses went off and he stuck his left foot out.

**Perfect.**

The student tripped right over in their hurry, falling forward and dropping the white package on the floor. William shrugged his shoulders when they looked up at him, turning behind him to see what else was happening. Florence had turned the man around, now engaging in conversation with him.

“Tell me what you handed that student, now.”

“You better back up, lady. Or… I can take you to Mr. Kaneshiro, he could definitely do with somebody with looks like you.”

“Junya Kaneshiro?” she said, confirming her blunt suspicion on what was already happening. Florence saw the man go blank for a moment, then trying to laugh it all off.

“Ohhh… are you already acquainted?” the man said, one hand stuffed into his pocket whilst he tried to reach forward with another one. “Then how about we get to know each other?”

Florence didn’t flinch once, stepping backwards and jamming an elbow into the man’s gut. She followed this up by grabbing the man by the shoulders, who was already yelling out in pain, applying two fingers to the back of his neck on a pressure point, then elbowing him directly across the neck for a knockout. Before the man could go down, he let out a yell which clearly alerted a few similarly dressed people nearby.

On the other hand, William didn’t see this, instead watching as the boy who dropped the package try and run away. His eyes flashed, prompting him to run forward and grab the student by his collar.

**“AH! I-I P-PROMISE I-I DIDN’T…!”**

William let him down, looking towards the fallen package. He’d investigate this by himself, and even if he needed the kid for the future, he had a good image of his face.

“Scram.”

The boy ran away as fast as his feet would take him, right down the street…

… and past a very familiar trio.

Ren, Ann and Ryuji had already been walking around Shibuya for sometime now, hanging out in the diner to talk and discuss what had happened so far, as well as tick off a few targets on the Phan-Site they’d eventually have to take care of. Ren picked up on the student, running at a blistering pace down the street, clearly recognising him from Shujin Academy.

“Yo! Where the hell is he off to?!” Ryuji said, with Ren already tracing the source from where the student started running.

“Over there! The alleyway!” Ann now pointed towards the gap in the street, extending past down towards the gym in which Ren and Ryuji had already been to before. The trio started jogging up to look at what was happening, with Ren taking the lead and seeing a completely unexpected scene.

William had ran over when more guys ran from a nearby car in the distance, targeting Florence as she was clearly ready to use force against these crooks who were related in some way to Junya Kaneshiro. There were about three of them, all gunning for Florence until William came in, striking one across the face with a right hook as Florence had already dealt with the other two in quick fashion, with two quick swift kicks to where the sun doesn’t shine. The duo watched on as a few of them got up after a few seconds, throwing their hands up and running away, not wanting anything to deal with the agents.

“And stay away!” Florence shouted, adjusting the jacket that had gotten loose in the slight scuffle, wiping her mouth before turning to William. “I did have them, you know, but… thank you.”

“My pleasure,” William wrapped the scarf back around his neck, turning around to see the knocked out thug starting to slowly stir. He wanted some answers, and fast, because officers were clearly in the vicinity and they could shut down this plan in an instant. They didn’t need to risk revealing their identity once more, because if the organisation wasn’t even contacting them, it’d be a sticky situation to get out of if they were found assaulting random thugs in an alleyway. “Get up… you piece of shit.”

The deadweight was fine for William to carry, albeit, he was sweating already from the actions already performed. Pinning him up against the wall of the gym, William wrapped his hand around his throat, whilst Florence watched on and got an eyeful of the three students now watching the scene.

“Could you have not done him in fully... ?! Ugh… he’s out for now and I don’t want to stay here for too long trying to get an answer out of him.”

William wanted to end this quickly, going to release his grip when…

_Just l̶͔̠̘̙̫͍̠̈́̒̈́̑e̷̡̥͓͚̬̦̩̯̞̬̱͙͎͚͊̓͊̏̋͒̀̍̽̾́̅͝ţ̸̗̬̺̥̳͍̦̮̱̊̄̽͝ ̶̨̢̢̙̮̹̮͕̤̹̩̻̠͓̌͐̎̇̑͒̋͌͑̑͗͜͝ȟ̵̨̘͈̹͂̋̾̊̅̈́͜͜͠͝ǐ̴̢̛̦͎̙̈́̑̃͋͛̀̿̿͝m̵̡̧̳̖͖̘̓̔̀̅̉̾͌̐́̏͐̆̚͜ ̶̥̖͍̖̬͗̍̌̒̎͛͊̊̊͘͠d̸̨̪͈̠̪̺̩̪̆̿̈̇͐̿̈́̎͋̎̊̽̕o̵̢̡͈̘̝̳̞͖͍̟̠̝̙̫͎̿̾ẁ̷̜̮ͅn̸͖̜͈̩͕̩̮̯̥̠̦̆͗̂́̽̈́͜.̴̱̘̹̩̖͉̎̓̕͜.̴̨̡̡͓͖̯̠̼̤̰̠̻̳͙̣͗̔̔̓̂̃́̕.̶͓̹͔͗̆_

_!_

_He felt something overcome him._

_No… this thug was no use._

_He was n̸̢̢̲̭̺̻̿̃̐̓̿͑̕͠ơ̵̟̏͐̅̄̍̑͘͘͘͠͝͠͝ ̶̨̼̦̩̺̹̥̟͎̻̺̎̈́̋̈́̊̓̉͜ͅu̵͎͎̙̩̱̣͍͕͗̄̈͘s̶̘̄͆̿̃̍ȩ̸͓̻̘͖̜̼͉͖̄̍._

…

William didn’t even know he was swinging forward with his fist, striking forward with incredible force into the thug’s stomach. They didn’t even let out a yell, slowly falling from the agent’s grasp, who looked on with his mouth slightly agape. With a quick turn to his right, he saw Florence gesturing for him to follow. Then he turned to his left, eyes widening at the sight of their targets, the Phantom Thieves, with Ren leading the way. Without a second to think, William ran down the alleyway and towards the street with Florence, holding onto his scarf along the way.

“What the... !” Ryuji was the first to speak after observing the scene, trying to run after them and finding a hand to his shoulder stopping him.

“Don’t. Look, it’s him.” Ren noted, pointing forward at the same guy he had spoken to on several occasions, and one who had incredible power in the Metaverse. “That’s strange, why the hell did he feel the need to do such a thing?”

“Is he… completely out?” Ann now spoke up, gesturing towards the fallen goon who wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon. Ren stopped her from moving forward, a hand wrapping around hers, even if it was in front of the guys, he didn’t want her to be in any sort of danger.

“He goes to Leblanc on the odd occasion, there’s no point in chasing him,” Ren pondered, looking towards Ann, making sure her hand was held tightly. “Let’s go and hang out in the diner some more, I’d hate to see something happen to any of you, e-especially you.”

Ryuji just looked away and was already walking towards the diner, Morgana popping his head out to tell him that he should at least wait for the others. Ann could sense Ren’s care for her in that moment, blushing slightly as she held back the urge to embrace him then and there. “Thank you… and don’t worry, I’ll be fine as long as you’re by my side, right?” she giggled at the end of that sentence, causing a smile from Ren as the two joined back up with Ryuji, heading back towards the diner.

All the time, what just happened was in Ren’s mind. The behaviour shown by William, the face he made whilst delivering the strike. There was something amiss about the man, and it worried Ren for the future. He hadn’t seen him enter the Metaverse since…

… but maybe, just maybe, there was more to him than he knew.

…

The alleyway clearing finally came to light, with William and Florence coming to a stop outside a road. It seemed that all the thugs had gone away, with a few pants from William signalling that it was quite the experience. Florence didn’t seem too pleased though, tapping her heel against the ground to get his attention.

“What you just did back there… are you sure that you’re okay?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. “I’ve never seen you that… angry, yet excited at the same time…”

“... what?” William was confused, scratching his head before peering down the alleyway to distract himself whilst he thought of his next words, seeing that the students had made their leave. He’d see one of them in that coffee shop… but maybe he didn’t want coffee today, even if Sae Niijima happened to be there. “I-I mean, I don’t even remember thinking I wanted to fully do him in like that… it’s like my body just acted on its own.”

“Please, enough with the excuses, I understand you wanting a thrill out of this, but we could be in danger right now.” Florence was starting to walk, forcing William to catch up with her.

“Danger? We took care of them-”

“You don’t get it, those thugs saw our faces… if they’re connected to Junya Kaneshiro, an apparent mob boss, we need to act fast and direct the police towards him.” Florence quickly interrupted with, which then sent a spark up through William’s head. He whipped out his phone, contemplating pressing the Meta-Nav application until he sees Florence looking over.

…

“... I think I have an idea, but I’ll need Robbie and Alexander’s help.” he said before any questions could be asked.

* * *

We’re back with the quartet of thieves, their day out looking for a potential next target coming to a close as they headed back towards the train station. Ann was in front of the two boys on the upwards escalator, constantly looking behind her to see if anyone else had gotten on the escalator, as far as she could see, it was just random people. Earlier in the day, Ann had complained to the two boys that she felt like she was being followed, the chills on her neck going up which Ren comforted her from. Morgana was obviously extremely worried for ‘Lady Ann’, saying that if somebody was following her, then he’d make them pay. Ren then said that if anything, they should make sure that they’re dealt with so it doesn’t escalate to anything serious. Ryuji was good to agree with this, however needed to be talked down of fighting this apparent stalker.

“... that’s him! He got off!” Ann said, only seeing their outfit and not their face, but she was certain of it. In an instant, Ren turned around, feeling as if he had to at least make her feel safe.

“Are you sure?! This might be our time to shine, RenRen!” Ryuji bawled a fist together, slamming into his open palm, to which Ren chuckled slightly before reaching out and lowering it himself.

“Don’t. We’re going to catch this guy in the act… alright?” he said assuredly, looking straight at Ann with that signature smirk of his. It made her feel a lot safer.

Convincing Ann to act as ‘bait’ in a way was tough for the whole team. Ann didn’t exactly want to go through with it, Ren thought there was another way, Ryuji straight up wanted to ambush the guy, and Morgana wouldn’t allow it. After some talking from Ren, who had the coolest head, he said that him and Ryuji would be on standby just nearby, acting as passerbys. They’d jump in as soon as someone even so approached her. If it was anyone else, Ann would’ve said no, but Ren made her feel that little bit safer. She just hoped Ryuji wouldn’t do anything stupid.

And began the waiting game.

…

Ren spotted nothing, Ryuji on the other side was just waiting to jump out.

…

Then, they saw him… but wait! Ren… knew this person!

…

As a dark blue haired boy reached out towards Ann, Ren used the railing to boost himself forward and stand in the way, Ryuji was there in a flash too, both guarding Ann as she turned around herself. Ren then finally realised who this apparent stalker was... it was Yusuke Kitagawa. The same artist he had encountered in the past, even once with Ann out in the same area of Shibuya there were in now. Ren was confused, and Ann finally realised that this was someone they had met before, still in slight shock.

“Hey… uh, are you sure it’s him? Or are you just that self-conscious?” Ryuji said, which got him one hell of a glare from Ann in the process, Ren weakly and awkwardly waving towards Yusuke who was inclined to do the same back.

“I’m not that-!” Ann started, then Yusuke decided to look towards the two. “Is there something you want?” he said, taking a moment to sweep a bang from out of his eyes. Due to it being summer, Yusuke had gone for a dark blue shirt to match his hair, instead of the white long sleeved school uniform that Ren had previously seen him in.

“That’s my line! You were the one stalking me!” Ann pointed directly towards Yusuke, who was absolutely baffled at the situation.

“Stalking you…? That’s outrageous, especially as an acquaintance of Amamiya-san.” Yusuke responded with, which actually took back all of the group, especially Ryuji, who looked more than a bit puzzled.

“Wait, you know this guy, Ren?” the blonde said, trying to analyse him to make sure Ann really was sure about this. He looked the same age as the rest of them after all, and the way he spoke didn’t make him seem like a bad guy. “Uh… so how are you-”

“Ryuji!” Ann stopped him in his tracks, still pointing directly at Yusuke. “Look… I know that we’ve met before with Ren, but I know that you’ve been following me! Ever since the train!” she shouted back in his direction, taking Yusuke back again ever so slightly.

“That’s because…” Yusuke started to say before a black car started to pull up alongside the group, the window rolling down to reveal a face that Ren has especially seen on the news before, that of Ichiryusai Madarame, the globally recognised artist himself and somebody that Yusuke had told him about, because he was his only remaining student. Madarame simply looked on at the scene with a smile, speaking out towards Yusuke in particular.

“My goodness… I had wondered why you left the car.” Madarame said, “So, this is where your passion led… all's well that ends well.”

He laughed for a moment before waving out towards Yusuke to get back in, of course though, Yusuke bowed and indicated he would only be another minute or so. Ren looked towards Madarame in particular, studying him almost. He was a widely known artist, famous for paintings all over Japan and Tokyo in particular. There couldn’t be anything wrong with him, right?

“I didn’t even notice the calls from Sensei… but thank goodness, I caught up to you, Takamaki-san, and you too, Amamiya-san. It has been a fair amount of time since our last meeting.” Yusuke stated, a hand going up and through his hair again.

“Y-yeah… ok…” Ann muttered. She didn’t exactly know what to make of this situation, although she noted that Yusuke still had those bags under his eyes that were present all the way back when she first met him with Ren.

“I’ve had some time to think and well…” Yusuke pulled his body back for a moment, surprising all of them. “You’re the woman I’ve been searching for all this time! Please, won’t you-”

Ren sprung into action for a moment, removing his hands from his pockets as he stepped forward, expecting Yusuke to do the unthinkable right here, right now. Ann noticed this, and of course with Ryuji and Morgana around, this couldn’t be a worse situation as she flushed red. “W-wait! Wait a m-minute!”

**“- be the model for my next art piece?!”**

The group just all looked at each other for a moment, with Ryuji the most confused out of the lot, Ann slightly confused and relieved, whilst Ren remained as calm as ever. “Eh? The fuck…” Ryuji scratched his head, trying to look towards the other for a sensible answer.

“A m-model…?” Ann slumped down slightly, she had modeled before, of course, her boyfriend knew that more than anyone. For an art piece though? It had never crossed her mind.

“All that I have drawn until now has been lacking, but I feel a passion from you unlike anyone else.” Yusuke spoke out, using those gestures of his to emphasise the point to a better extent.

“Grrr! This man is highly suspicious!” Ren watched as Morgana popped out from his bag, shouting out in Yusuke’s direction, who couldn’t hear him at all apart from a faint and angry meow.

“Will you cooperate with me? What do you say?”

“Hold up, man! You may know them, but I don’t know you. Who the hell are you anyway?” Ryuji stated, defending Ann the same way as Ren, although the latter had taken a step back to let the situation unfold.

“Oh, where are my manners? For all of you, even if I have met two of you, I am a second year at Kosei High’s fine-arts division.” Yusuke said, clearly gaining the reaction of Ryuji. “My name is Yusuke Kitagawa. I’m Madarame-sensei’s pupil, and I am being allowed residence at his place.”

Ann and Ren remembered most of the key details, so it was Ryuji who was left in deep thought as Yusuke once again approached Ann, a little bit closer than last time with Ren taking a note of how close he really was. He then remembered seeing a comment on the Phan-Site… the name Madarame kept repeating over in his head until…

“Ryuji. Come here for a second, please.” Ren said, with Ryuji making his way around to Ren’s side, the latter having his phone up and accessing the Phan-Site. He was correct in his suspicions, the request was still at the top of the page.

Natsuhiko Nakanohara…

This was the man who wanted to change the heart of Madarame, and there was another request of the same agenda. He showed Ryuji the two posts, the first on the site and the second of a screenshot he had taken some time ago.

“Dude! I thought I saw something like that… yeah…” Ryuji kept his voice down, still peering over to keep Yusuke and Ann in his sights.

“Yusuke!” Madarame shouted from his car, that of which Yusuke finally stepped away from Ann for a moment. “I’m sorry, Sensei. I’ll be right there!” he responded back with, then stepping closer to Ann again, withdrawing three tickets from his trouser pocket.

“Madarame-sensei’s exhibition will begin at the department store near the station in three days. I’ll be there to help out on opening day. Please come by.” Yusuke said whilst extending the tickets out, clearly one for each member of the group. Ann awkwardly took the tickets, making Yusuke smile slightly, walking back towards the car that Madarame was in. “It’d be great if you could give me your answer in regards to being a model then…”

“Amamiya-san, I do hope to see you there as well, it was quite nice to catch up with you again.” Yusuke bowed in his direction, not even bothering to say anything to Ryuji as Madarame called out to Yusuke one more time, leading to him getting in and the car driving off. The group was left in confusement about what just happened, Ann placing the tickets into her bag.

“That guy’s as easy to read as a book… you’re not planning on going, are you?” Ryuji said in Ann’s direction, who had her back turned, only facing Ren who still looked quite calm.

“I think I will…” Ann finally said after a moment, suddenly seeing a notification come through on her phone, eyes widening before looking towards Ren. “Shit… look at the time! Um… Ren, can you come with me for a minute? Ryuji, Morgana, I’ll see you later!”

Ren felt his wrist being grabbed, Morgana jumping out of his bag to sit on Ryuji’s shoulder. The two exchanged looks, not a clue what just went on as the couple escaped behind a corner, out of sight from the two.

“Sorry about this being so sudden… but that was kind of an awkward moment, I just wanna head home and relax…” Ann said, now pushing herself forward to hold both of Ren’s hands, blushing and looking off to the side. “... what did you think about that Yusuke’s offer? Do you trust him?”

Ren pushed his glasses up, still holding his girlfriend’s hands. “He’s a nice guy, for sure, unlike Ryuji, I actually believe he means no harm… the only issue is that of Madarame, his name has shown up twice now on the Phan-Site.”

“It has?! Shoot… I was totally unaware of that…” Ann looked back into Ren’s eyes, who was still thinking quite intently.

“It’s fine, it’s fine… but this could be the gateway to a new target. Yusuke looked pretty bad on the two occasions I’ve seen him, perhaps Madarame could be a cause for that? Then again, he’s a national celebrity at this point, could someone like him even risk… no…” Ren tried to think of something in that moment, realising that they couldn’t keep Ryuji and Morgana waiting for long.

“Do you want to call tonight? We can sort this whole mess out, okay? And if I was wrong and he does try something…” Ren went red now, Ann feeling his grip get slightly tighter. “... I’ll be there, and I won’t let him.”

“... you’re the best.” Ann softly said, edging closer as the two embraced for what felt like a full minute. They then finally separated, Ren nodding as Ann went on her way, waving goodbye to him as he did the same in return. Turns out, Ren’s third eye was right, with Ryuji (and Morgana on his shoulder) walked around at the moment, looking fairly confused.

“What was that all about with Ann?” the blonde said, with Morgana still cursing towards what had happened with Yusuke.

“N-nothing, she just needed someone to talk to.” Ren quickly said, trying to change the topic as quickly as possible. “Anyway, want to head to Leblanc?”

“Ehhh… sure, why the hell not?”

With fury still in Morgana’s eyes, the trio set off towards Ren’s home of Leblanc, it’d be the first time Ryuji would actually come to the place. He just hoped that Sojiro found some good in him.

All that was on Ren’s mind was Madarame and Yusuke at the moment though, the deal with Ann...

… they hadn’t been together for long, but Ren felt he had a duty to fulfill in situations like this.

* * *

**Cafe Leblanc**

**03/06/16**

**Evening**

* * *

It was fairly late when Ren and Ryuji walked into Leblanc, Sojiro greeting them and asking Ren who he’d brought home now. Ren introduced Ryuji, who responded with his usual upbeat attitude. Taking a seat at the bar, Ryuji looked over to see that somebody was already seated, and it was someone he hadn’t seen before.

“Hey, kid, I’ll tend to your friend, go and make small talk would you?” Sojiro asked of Ren after he placed his apron on over his polo shirt. The boy nodded, walking over to the newest customer who was busy filling out a crossword he had brought with him.

He was definitely around the same age as Ren, if not a little bit older. The boy wore a long sleeved tanned overcoat buttoned up slightly, a striped black and white tie, black gloves and black trousers. Ren felt something from this boy, almost a warming vibe. He didn’t know how to express it.

“... what can I get you today?” Ren asked, taking his time though with his words, with the boy not responding, continuing to fill out his crossword until placing it down and looking up with a smile.

“Oh, I apologise, haha. I do get caught up in my puzzles…” the boy said, placing an arm down by his side and another across the bar. “I think I will take the house blend, it’s my first time here after all, and I heard from a colleague that the coffee here is particularly nice.”

“Who told you that?” Sojiro spoke up, sliding a cup over to Ryuji, who didn’t have the greatest reaction to it. “And they aren’t wrong.”

“Ah, do you know Sae Niijima? Me and her work very closely together in our field of work, and I heard her mention this shop in Yongen-Jaya, so I just had to check it out.” the boy said, with Ren getting to work on the coffee, clearly using the techniques he had learned from Sojiro.

“That prosecutor woman? I assume you work close with the authorities then.” Sojiro said back, listening to Ryuji’s request to simply get him a soda.

“Niijima-san, yes. I’m only a detective, so we don’t speak often, but the times we do, she’s often too busy to stick around for long.” he responded with, looking up and around Leblanc itself. “This place has a very warm atmosphere, I’ve taken quite a liking to it if I’m being honest.”

It didn’t take much longer for Ren to finish up the cup of coffee for the detective, slowly placing it in front of him. The boy took a sip before placing it down, still carrying that smile on his face. “This is wonderful. I couldn’t help but notice, do you work part-time around here?”

Before Ren could respond, he heard Sojiro already ready to answer that question. “Yep. He’s still starting out, but from your reaction, I hear he’s getting better.”

“Ah, I see. Are you perhaps in high school?” the boy said, turning back to Ren who was simply standing behind the bar, trying to walk over towards Ryuji. “Yeah… I go to Shujin Academy…”

“Hmm. I’ve seen that place come up in the news quite a lot, I do hope it’s alright over there.” the boy said, taking a few more sips of coffee before Ren headed over towards him. There was something about him that seemed… no, seeing another detective might have just been deja vu, but the boy felt different to William Reed. Before Ren could say anything else, he heard the detective speak up again.

“Oh, and if you want to know, my name is **Goro Akechi**. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took quite a while to get out, however, I'm quite happy with the end product! I did plan to have the TV Station visit in this chapter, but I didn't want to overdo anything. I hope you enjoy the next chapter of this series!


	17. Two Sides Of The Same Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group are on their social studies trip, which soon turns into a special day in Dome Town. In the meantime, Ren has an encounter with a slightly familiar face. However, for the quartet of Rogue One, a previous encounter has some unwelcome visitors who look to do more than cause a simple bump in the night.

* * *

**Tokyo Television Station**

**04/06/16**

**Morning**

* * *

…

_Inaba…_

_When times were p̴̛̘̠̦̪͖͎̟̘̱̝̠̦͙̑͑̅́̕̕͜͠e̶̡̦͈̩͉̝̘͍̞̼̱͎̝͒̐͂̊̂̿̽̍͒̏̿̚a̸̪̟̭̒c̵͎̻̻̞̤̝̫̙̻̰̒̓̉̉̍̿̏̈̓͝͝ę̷͖͚̙̥̣͎̱͓͕̍͛́͆͊͑̑̊̅ͅͅf̸̡̿ư̸̛̳͍̼̄̓̊̉̏̀͑͋̂̚͘l̶̻͙̀̅̈̒̏͂̿̎̑ and you weren’t a heart-stealing thief._

_The one person that had you marked for life over a crime you didn't commit. An act of j̴̡͙̯͖̹̜͍̝̖̯̏͐̑̿̈͑ṷ̴̢̨͈͎̘̗̱͈̖͖̈́͐̊̿̏͒̀͌͋̋̓́͝͝s̸̨̡̧̯̩̗̭̮̖͉͖̻̥̗̯̓̆̂͌̒̅̒͊̇͗̓̚͘t̷̛̳͈̪̘̞̰͈̰̬͓̖̉̊̓̄͐̂̄̑̈́̍̽͘į̵̥̣͖͍̦̺̜̟̬̆̒̋̅̆̐͊̏̐̚͘͝͝c̸̨̨̄̈́͂̋͊͐̈́̅́̀̂͛̓͘é̷̢̮̼̹̍͂̏̃͗̈́̽̑̈́͝ taken the wrong way and twisted around. You’re a prisoner in society itself and it hurts._

_Every single day… it just ẖ̶̛̟̼͍̱̟͉̣̻̥̇̈͑̃̈́̈́̿͝ͅṷ̴͋̐͋̉͂̐̌̓̆͘͠r̶̢̹͇͎͖̖̭͈͉̹͋̾̋̐̇̆̅͊͠t̷̻̲̊͊̽̓͝s̴̨̯̫̲̾͝ ̷̛̖̬̈͂̇̽̂̐͗̐̕a̸̡̩͈̹̠̦̬͚̱͕͖̩̰̫̓̅̅̄͒̈́́̏͂̔n̵̬͔̙̭̿̀͒̅̈͋̏̇̓̀͒͝͝ͅd̷͚̣̈́̇̂͌̃͑̽͒̍̈́͘̚ ̶̩̙͍̠̐̐͂̽̊̅͐̃̒̒̚͘͜ḧ̴̢̖̦͉̩̩̜̹̩̙͙̘̭͓́̓̈́͊̾̍͑̈͋̎̏͝ư̸͔̻̺̊̍̅̒̋̄͑̃̒̔̆̚r̷̨̩̦̗͉͎̬̙̙͔̍͛͌̈́͑̈́̚ẗ̵̡͙̣͚̬̝͒̔͒͘͜͝͠s̷̜̣̰̦̩͈͈͖̬̥͈̥̽͂͐̎̈́͆̾̈́̑̉̚͘ even more than the previous day._

_Did you ever think about wanting to rebel in a different way?_

_A man with nothing to lose… that’s pretty dangerous._

_…_

**_“I̸̛̠̔̉̒̈͌̌́̓̽͝Ṇ̵̨͙͖͇̥̫͙̣͇͕̘͎̬̊͌͐͑̓͐́̈́̌͝ͅM̷̱͚̝̞̼̺͇̰̥̤̰̟͍̞̓̽͗̐̆̎͌̅̈́̄͗̆̕͝A̸̯̞̽͊̅̍̓Ţ̵̼̟̈́̆̆͑͛͝ͅE̷̙̻̺̱̻̦̲͍̘̾̉̈́̑͂̀̕!”_ **

_…_

Ren snapped awake, looking around to see that yep, he was still on the school bus set for transferring his class, among others, to the location of their social studies location of choice. It was Ann’s suggestion to go to the TV station, and neither him or Ryuji had anything better to do. An interesting fact about this trip was the absence of Morgana, who Ren agreed should stay behind. They were going to be surrounded by students, teachers and high ranking officials in the television industry after all. This left Ren with an empty-ish bag, sitting next to a special someone on the bus with Ryuji having already shotgunned the back of the bus seats.

Combined with the other second-year students, there surprisingly wasn’t that many students going to this certain location. Ren looked to his right, watching Ann look out of the window as the bus pulled up to the point of interest. The two of them were getting more and more comfortable with holding one another’s hand now, as little as it was, those were the things that counted between them.

Ren’s mind was taken aback for a moment to the voices in his head… definitely reminiscent of the wardens in the Velvet Room. It felt for a second like his mind was being manipulated, controlled almost. It was probably nothing though, even if the voices he heard were demonic like.

“Okay, everybody! We’ve arrived…” Ms. Kawakami said from the front, being told to advise and oversee this part of the social studies trip was something she perhaps didn’t want to get involved in, however, the less suspicion drawn towards her and her new position, the better. “... now, we’ll need to enter in an orderly fashion, so pair up with somebody from your class and we’ll go from there.”

“Heh… I wonder who my partner will be, hmm?” Ann turned to Ren, still holding his hand and tracing lines across the palm. “... I know, I know… a stupid question to ask…”

“Never worry about asking anything,” Ren said in response, looking around to see all the other students getting up and starting to walk outside. “Should we get moving then, my lady?”

A nod from Ann settled it, thinking to herself that Ren really was such a gentleman. Of course though, she was one of the only people who knew the rebellious side of him. It was the perfect mix for her type, and she wouldn’t change a thing. Letting go of each other for the moment, Ren led the way with Ann leading behind him, Ryuji doing his best to catch up from the back of the bus.

* * *

The trio were together again, split off into a small group that was composed of some of Ren and Ann’s classmates as well as Ryuji’s classmates. Trying to pay attention whilst being talked to about the most basic details of how shows were produced for television was making Ren yawn quite a bit, which also could have something to do with the fact that he was up all night talking to both Ryuji AND Ann, one after the other.

“I’m sure you know about commercial breaks, yes? Well, those are actually sponsor-related product placements…” said the woman presenting the talk to Ren’s group. It caused a yawn from Ren as Ann looked over to him, tilting her head.

“Sleepy, huh?” Ann was blinking quite an amount, looking over to Ryuji who was trying to sneak his phone out in order to distract himself. “I swear I know all of this stuff… like….”

“Uh huh… I getcha’...” Ryuji rubbed his eyes, looking over towards Ren who wasn’t doing much better. “You ain’t even listening, are you?”

“Because you can totally say the same thing.” Ren quickly called back with, managing to flash a grin as Ryuji found himself leaning up against a wall, the PR woman still rambling on at the front.

“For example, soap-opera reruns are shown in the day, whereas alluring newswomen are broadcast at night, thus the…” the woman carried out with the presentation, prompting another yawn from Ren. He needed to keep his eyes out for a potential target though, that’s why he agreed to this in the first place with Ryuji and Ann.

“Hey! You three should be listening intently!”

A voice called out from behind Ren for a moment, and it was one he knew all too well. The trio turned out all together, seeing their feline friend in Morgana just waiting for them in the middle of the studio. Neither of them spoke until Ren quickly darted down, opening his bag up and allowing Morgana to jump in. He nearly panicked and dropped the thing, prompting some students to turn around and stare at the commotion.

“Ah… shit… sorry…” he quietly said before standing up, sending some gazes away before Morgana popped his head up and out the small gap in the zip Ren had made.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were using this school trip as an opportunity to scout targets? Was the Phan-Site not enough?”Morgana said, not choosing the wise option to keep his voice down.

“First, tell me how, why and when you got here.” Ren responded with, trying to not sound crazy in front of everyone else that wasn’t a Phantom Thief and could understand this talking cat. “You didn’t actually walk all the way from Yongen-Jaya to here… did you?”

“... nope! I snuck onto your bus!” Morgana was almost proud of that statement, simply making Ren sigh. “Come on… what’s with the sad faces? It’s no different than any other time we’ve decided to hang out in such a public space…”

“It’s nothing, Morgana. I should have brought you along in the first place…” Ren looked around to hear that the group was moving on to another part of the studio. “... anyway, guys. Let’s get moving.”

The group moved along as Morgana dove back into the bag, not thinking much of what happened, but at least he was back with his friends, the Phantom Thieves. The feline really did wonder why Ren decided to leave him behind in the first place… and what prompted Morgana himself to follow them to this destination. He convinced himself it was just because they had been talking about finding a new target, so he had to be there, right? He belonged in the Phantom Thieves!

Anyway, back to the students.

“I swear I’m not gonna last…” Ryuji muttered, hands behind his head. At that moment, Ren felt a shove, being sent across into Ryuji’s direction with Morgana coming out of the boy’s bag to see what was going on.

“What’s going on? I can’t stand all of this noise.” the middle-aged man who just pushed past Ren asked.

“What a fucking dick… hey, asshole!” Ryuji shouted across, with the other two not bothering to stop him. The screeching voice of the woman giving the presentation then cut him off. “My apologies! I’ll have them leave right away!”

“Now then, it’s time for a bit of hands-on experience!” she clasped her hands together, leading away most of the students in the group. It left Ren, Ann, Ryuji and one or two others just looking around. Meanwhile, the same newscaster pushed past Ren once again, but not before getting a good look at his face.

“Urgh… I just hate people like that…” Ryuji shoved his hands into his pockets, looking over to see a new member of staff emerge and stand in front of Ann, clearly looking her up and down.

“Hey there… you fancy being on TV?” the man pressed a hand up to his chin, sporting a grin on his face Before Ann could respond, he continued on. “You’ve got a slammin’ bod, after all. Hehehehe…”

Morgana could tell that Ren’s mood had changed completely following that statement, Ryuji too. They didn’t step any closer, Ren simply watching with a stare that could kill any shadow in the Metaverse. “Uh… I’m on a school trip… jeez…” Ann said with slight anger, trying to walk back over in the boys’ direction.

“Just gimme a call if you’re interested. I’d greatly welcome a message from you, day or night…” the man said, holding out a card of sorts. Before anything else could happen, Ren reached out in front of him, taking the card and pocketing it for himself. “Hey, kid! I wasn’t talking to you!”

“We’re on a school trip, thank you.” Ren smiled, sarcastically of course, with Ann flashing him a wink. “Heh, yeah… greatly welcome, my damn ass. It’s obvious what he’s after.” Ryuji added in, keeping his voice down to Ren’s level. “I’ll yank their stupid hearts out, dammit!”

“Ryuji! Quieten down! You’re supposed to be acting like good students today! We even went over this!” Morgana shouted out, with Ren twisting his body around so the bag was covered up and the cat was mostly out of sight. He didn’t bother to duck down, seeing Ms. Kawakami approach and sigh at the two boys.

“... look, we’re working together now and I understand that you’re bored, but please don’t cause any trouble, okay?” Kawakami stated to Ren and Ryuji in particular.

“Right… uhhh…” the staff member was scratching his head, trying to come up with something. “Let’s have you see what it’s like to be an AC. Oh, and that stands for assistant camera. When we’re moving cameras, we need people who’ll get the cables from getting tangled up…”

He then looked at Ryuji, who didn't have the greatest expression on his face. “The blond will do. He seems like he’s got energy to spare anyway. And then the smartass next to him can come too, if you’re up to it. C’mon, just hurry up and grab the cables!”

And so came the hard work that was part of this trip. Ren and Ryuji were the ones put to work by the producers, leaving Ann to simply wait around and avoid any sort of advances like the last one. She was pretty happy with Ren stepping in to stop the earlier producer, even if it was minimal effort. Whilst Ann was standing off to the side, a chance to chat with Shiho brought itself up. The conversation only lasted about a minute before she was called over and told to stop using her phone when she should be using this trip for her studies. Ann learned that Shiho had settled in well to her new school, and would be visiting soon. Shiho also bugged her over the relationship with Ren, which Ann said was going well, very well.

Meanwhile, the two boys had finished their task of hard labour, pulling cables all around the studio and even getting a chance to handle a camera. Finally, it reached the afternoon portion of the trip, and the students were given a chance to explore the surrounding area before returning to the studio for a last look.

“This is totally killing my vibe…” Ryuji groaned, walking up a corridor of the studio with Ren besides him. “I’m just so pissed off! Aren’t we supposed to be guests? Yet, they’re making us do manual labour?!”

“It hasn’t been that bad…” Ren scratched his cheek slightly, looking over to see Morgana still poking his head out of the back of Ren’s bag. “Each to their own, I guess.”

“This is bullshit! Going to the bathroom didn’t even make me feel better!” Ryuji stomped against the floor, although that last sentence made Ren chuckle slightly.

“What? Did you have an angry shit?” Ren said, showing off that immature sense of humour he somehow had.

“... you’re the worst, man, I swear.”

“Quiet down! Both of you!” Ann came from around the corner, realising that a few producers were patrolling the hallways. I mean, to make Shujin Academy less reputable wouldn’t be that bad. “I get how you feel though, Ryuji… it sucked for both of us.”

“And ain’t we gotta do more of this tomorrow…?” Ryuji responded with.

“Don’t flake out now, Ryuji.” Morgana was quick to say, now positioned just over Ren’s shoulder.

“I know, I know… I gotta be a ‘good boy’, or whatever, right?” the blonde slumped down, hands in his pockets. “Being phantom thieves ain’t easy now that I really think about it…”

“That reminds me, we get to go home straight from here today. We don’t spend much time in this area, so why don’t we relax and check out some shops beforehand?” Ann suggested with a smile, trying to brighten the mood back up from within the group. “And I have a shoot later near this area… so all the better!”

“Ooh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking place we passed on the way here!” Morgana immediately piped up saying. “It looked delicious! What was that?”

“Ohhh… Dome Town, right? Something like that. The round part is a baseball stadium, then along the outside they’ve got an amusement park.” Ryuji said, obviously he had actually looked up on the place before coming here. It definitely surprised Ren, in a good way though.

“An amusement park? Ooh! I can show my courage by-”

Morgana suddenly dived back into Ren’s bag, sensing footsteps like the others just around the corner. Ren recognised the person who appeared, considering that it wasn’t too long ago that they served them in Leblanc. The overcoat, the tie, the proper posture and briefcase with an appropriately marked ‘A’... this was Goro Akechi, who had come into Leblanc and introduced himself as a rookie detective.

“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice your uniforms. Are you students of Shujin Academy?” Goro asked, peaking the others’ interest whilst Ren simply looked on and stared. “I happened to be passing by, so it seemed to polite to greet you all. We’ll be filming together, after all.”

“... right.” Ryuji wasn’t one to really respond.

“Ah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi,” he said before looking over to Ren, thinking to himself for a moment before smiling once more. “I didn’t expect to run into a familiar face either. Our meeting in Leblanc was quite a fateful once, do you think?”

He asked that directly towards Ren, who wasn’t exactly thinking for a moment, snapping back into reality with a slight grin of his own. “Yes… I suppose so.”

The other members of the group didn't react much to the two knowing each other, even if it was only a small meeting.

“Akechi… huh.” Ann said, not really caught up with the conversation. “Filming? What are you, a celebrity?” Ryuji followed up with, prompting a slight chuckle from Goro himself.

“Only to the extent of appearing on TV a couple of times....” Goro says, looking to continue until hearing a ping from his coat pocket and pulling out his phone. The detective’s face seems to drop slightly, shaking his head. “My apologies. I truly was just passing by. I must be going. There’s a briefing for tomorrow’s recording that I have to attend.”

“So, you’re going to have cake now? I missed lunch today, so I’m quite hungry myself…” Goro said before attempting to walk off, prompting confusion from everyone in the group as nobody said a word until Ryuji finally responded. “Huh? Cake…? The hell are you talking about?”

“Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about delicious pancakes…”

**...!**

Akechi was soon walking away, bidding the group goodbye as both Ryuji and Ann questioned about that… slightly weird meeting with the detective. It was clear that Ryuji had taken an instant dislike to the boy, and Ann didn’t exactly seem to care. Ren found something intriguing about what Akechi had said though. He wasn’t the only one who noticed it… right? Either, Goro could somehow have heard Morgana.

Or, he just really liked pancakes.

Ren believed both of them, for now.

* * *

**Dome Town**

**04/06/16**

**Afternoon**

* * *

To Ren, Dome Town was right in the mix of thrilling and a drag. It had been a long day.

He soon found himself splitting off from Ryuji, who was distracted by some of the more high risk rides and stalls. Morgana was next, strangely tagging along with Ryuji whilst Ren said he was going to go on a high-up rollercoaster. They still needed some sort of bonding session anyway. It’d give him and Ann some time alone… not on a rollercoaster, but on a ferris wheel that Ann had spotted earlier.

To Ann, this ferris wheel would be a perfect chance to connect with Ren and Ren alone about what had happened the other day.

It didn’t take long before they boarded, sitting fairly close to each other; Ann knew that she was past the stage of nerves when it came to being in a relationship, so why was she scared about showing affection when it was just them on this ride? Ren noticed this silence too, wanting to say something, yet no words came out. All this time since they started dating, Ren really thought about showing their relationship around school. He was still branded as a criminal and that wasn’t changing anytime soon. Ren knew Ann shouldn’t be dragged through more shit, she’d been through enough already, especially after what had happened with Shiho.

A part of him still feels he could’ve stopped that… he could’ve stopped Kamoshida earlier…

“... just the two of us, huh?” Ann said, shuffling slightly closer to the boy. He looked over to see her smile, making him slightly happier inside. “I was wondering if you have these nerves like I do… it’s kinda funny, haha…”

Ren didn’t exactly respond, still in thought as he nodded in Ann’s direction.

“Two weeks fly by… it still feels that I’ve known you for so much longer…” she continued, with Ren looking down at the ground of the ferris wheel, one hand on his knee and another on the seat. “... you came into my life and became an important part of it so quickly. Maybe too quickly. I don’t care what others think of you, or me though.”

He nodded again, a warmer smile on his face. Ren just… couldn’t talk back. His mind and heart were in two different places. Why did he feel this way though?

“I felt so scared after coming into Shujin, meeting Kamoshida and falling victim to his twisted games… there was literally no hope for me. After everything with Shiho, I could only blame myself for what happened to her. She, like me, would only want the best for everyone else and that bastard took advantage of her and others. Even now… the concept of Kamoshida, or anyone even similar to him making their way into my life… it terrifies me, and sometimes, it keeps me up at night.”

…

“It’s been such a short time, for us and even for the Phantom Thieves… because we can only get bigger from here. I just feel that as an individual, I wouldn’t have been able to fight back and rebel if it wasn’t for you. In the end, that’s why I fell for you early on, and why people like Shiho could sense that. I’d go to her every single day possible in the hospital and mention your name, even if I didn’t realise it!” Ann chuckled, making Ren smile once more, feeling some sort of sensation overcome him for a moment.

…

“It wasn’t just you. It was Ryuji, Morgana, Shiho… they all played a part in putting me back on the right path. I’m just so thankful that you played a big part in that, and you were the one that accepted me for who I was. Everyone wanted me for my looks, because I had apparently fucked this person and that person… thinking could get an easy chance with me. That’s why I hated Kamoshida, he spread these rumours around, but thank the heavens he never got to do anything with me. We’re similar. People shunned by society because of incidents out of our control… I think that’s why we clicked.”

…

“... so let’s make a vow, **together**.”

Ren looked up, not realising that he had been smiling all the time. He blinked a few times, reaching up to take off his glasses and rub his eyes. Deep down, Ren had never really felt such a connection to a person before. The entire incident involving his criminal record had damaged his reputation and confidence to the point of no return. Being in the Metaverse and around his new friends definitely raised the confidence up, however, he had lost faith in others around him.

“... Ren?”

“Ann…” he muttered out.

Ren felt a tissue grace past his eyes, dabbing just beneath them as he quickly shook his head. It was rare for the boy to show emotion like this, yet listening to Ann’s story… it broke him.

“... yeah, I’d quite like that.”

She giggled, fully able to shuffle up closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder. It was only after a few more seconds when the announcement came over the speaker that the ferris wheel would soon be coming to an end. Ren didn’t even realise that so much time had passed, not seeing many of the sights along the way.

“Hey… about that vow, I’ll tell you another time…” Ann said to him, which confused Ren slightly. “We should probably catch up with Ryuji and Morgana, they’re probably waiting for us somewhere…”

“... but don’t you think we should do that thing, y’know… that couples do with each other?”

Ren slightly blushed, not realising for a moment what Ann was referring to. She herself was fidgeting with her own hands.

“... uh… right… would that be…?”

“Oh, fuck it, come here… you dork.”

Ren didn’t expect her to come at him so quickly, pressing her lips to his probably only for a second or two. It wouldn’t stop there though, another kiss followed… and another… and one more too. He noticed pretty quickly that he wasn’t doing anything in response to this, simply sitting and letting Ann peck him over and over. Finally, it was a full on kiss between the couple, lasting for a few seconds before Ann pulled away, resting her forehead against Ren’s.

“... wow.”

She didn’t say anything to that, Ren instead just waited for her to come at him again… which didn’t happen as Ann missed his lips completely, eyes closed and all, instead planting a kiss just above them under his nose. “... ah… well…” she said, going bright red once more and pulling away, noticing that the romantic atmosphere had been near enough shattered.

“I actually have to admit… that was one of the greatest moments of my teenage life.” Ren suddenly said out of the blue, shuffling closer over to the embarrassed Ann. “I’ve never really felt… love before, not even to my own parents after the incident… so thank you, for real.”

Ah, the joys of young love.

Ren and Ann soon found themselves let off the ride, with the latter leaning her head on the shoulder of Ren whilst walking back through Dome Town. It would be quite a surprise to look up and see a very familiar face waving towards Ren in particular.

Goro Akechi, you bastard.

“Ah, hello, you two. It’s quite a pleasure to see you again on this fine day.” Goro smiled, noticing the two a lot more… closer than when he met them in the corridor of the TV studio. “Oh! I do apologise if I was interrupting any sort of ‘date’ between you two…”

Ren exchanged glances with Ann before looking back in Goro’s direction. “You’re fine. We were just getting ready to meet back up with our friend…” Ren said, prompting a nod from Goro who looked pretty out of it all together, clear bags under his eyes.

“That must be the other boy you were with earlier… I see. And that reminds me, I never got either of your names.” Goro let out a slight yawn, trying to hold it back with a hand over his mouth. Ren made a mental note that this boy definitely had too much on his plate. “... ah, I’m sorry. I might have to stop by Yongen-Jaya again to relax with some coffee later…”

“I’m Ren Amamiya… and this is…” Ren started to say. “... Ann Takamaki.” Ann lifted her head up from Ren’s shoulder, once again trying to analyse Goro as a whole. She had some sort of suspicion from him after all this time, especially with the behaviour he showed back at the studio.

“A long day of work?” Ren asked, trying to make some light conversation with this new acquaintance.

“... yes. As I mentioned back when we met earlier today, not only did I have to attend a briefing… but then I was called into a second meeting just a few minutes ago.” Goro’s voice dropped from his usual polite manner. “Sometimes, I wish that a break for my line of work could be possible…”

Ann tilted her head to the side, raising her eyebrows at Goro’s comment. “Didn’t you say that you appear on TV from time to time? What kind of job do you actually do?”

The detective had his smile back, letting out a sigh before checking the time on his watch. “Amamiya-san, you should know, shouldn't you? It was only yesterday when we first met one another.”

Ren squinted as Goro said this. Was this supposed to be some sort of test? Regardless, the boy scratched his head and thought back to Leblanc… he had brought Ryuji back, discovering that he wasn’t a big fan of any sort of coffee. Then, Sojiro had told him to attend to the newest customer which turned out to be Goro himself…

_… ah, that’s it!_

_“Niijima-san, yes. I’m only a detective, so we don’t speak often, but the times we do, she’s often too busy to stick around for long.”_

“... a detective. Your work must be pretty above average to find yourself on television.” Ren finished off saying, prompting a nod from Goro whose mood had picked back up.

“Quite right, Amamiya-san. You’ve been paying attention…” Goro slightly chuckled, again, his behaviour was confusing to both Ren and Ann. “... and I didn’t mean to undermine your ability like that. It becomes a habit when you do what I do… haha…”

“So-”

“Oh! I really need to get going…” Goro quickly said, with Ren planning on once again asking how Goro ended up on TV. Just like before, he weakly waved goodbye to the pair and headed off in the opposite direction. Hopefully, Ren thought, they’d find out tomorrow. After all, there was still another day on the trip and Goro was undoubtedly going to show up.

“He’s an interesting case, don’t you think?” Ann turned to Ren, asking the same question on his mind. “I dunno… he’s pretty odd and a bit clumsy when it comes to his actions. Although, he doesn’t seem too harmful.”

“There’s one detail that stuck out to me though, and I’m not sure if you also picked up on it whilst we were in that corridor talking to Ryuji.” Ren pulled out his phone, accessing the notes application. “... cast your mind back to when Morgana mentioned visiting some sort of ‘pancake place’...”

Ann started to play out the memory in her head… it wasn’t even that long ago…

_“Ooh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking place we passed on the way here!” Morgana immediately piped up saying. “It looked delicious! What was that?”_

She nodded for a moment, peering over to see Ren quickly type out a few words in a new section of the app.

**Remember the name, Goro Akechi.**

“... so tell me how when Goro came by to talk with us, he ‘mistakenly’ heard something about a pancake place? Morgana, the talking cat that only we can understand, got through to this guy.” Ren continued to say, placing the phone back in his pocket and letting out a sigh. “... maybe it was nothing, maybe somebody else mentioned it… but….”

Maybe he was overthinking everything… just maybe. However, Ren himself had reason to keep his guard up for small details like this. After one detective finding his way into the Metaverse and being forced to torture him in order to awaken his powers… he couldn’t take a single chance. Why did the Metaverse have to do these things to him? He thought back to what Goro said again…

_Ḯ̶̝̝̞̺͂͒̔͐͘͜ ̵̛͉̥͚͌̔̊̎͌̒͑͛t̸̨̤̔̈́̂͝h̵̹̬͗̓̂͠͝͝o̴̡̟̠͌̀̕ů̷̗̥̝̤̞̥̮̹̦̺͐̂̊̈͐̍̈́͒̋̈́̈́͑͘g̴̡͉̼͙̯͖̎̿̂̎̐̑̿̐͐͗̐͂͋͂̋h̷̡̛̭̭͇̺̩̩̖̬̹̰̿̓͒̓͌̽̈͠͠ͅt̵̢̗̻̭̰̮̉͑̔̓̎͊͋͐̕͘͝ ̴̢̛̺̠̗͓̰͇̼̱͔̑̑̍̄̆̑͐I̸̞̾̀̾̏͆̑͑͠͠ͅ ̶̢͖̖̟̻͇̈̀̏̈́ḩ̸̡̡̖̺̫͕̞͆̄͂̈̈́͆̌̅́e̶͚̟͆̌͌̆͆a̷̺̤͊̒̿̅͆̎̈̓̕͠r̴̲͎̙͈̤̬̦͛̋͋͋d̷̪̄̅̓̑̀͝ ̸̡̲͙͓͙͉̹̠͖̩̠̊̈́̍̓́͝s̴͍̰̍͐͛̒͐̍̿͠o̸̲̦̳̳̝̱̞̍͐̐͛́͑̍̏̄͆̾̕m̸̫̘͔̦̤͂̂̿̒́̽̔̍̌͘ę̵̨̪͇͉͖͔̪̬̟͇̳̩̭̐͜t̶͍͋̏͝͠͝͝ḩ̷̢̻̰̖̼̫͍̪͇̖̥̯̠̐̓̂̚ͅị̴̰͖̖̞̗̬̺̠̹̖͉̦̍̋̈́̑̈́̿̒̉͑̂̃̎̚͝n̵̢̛̛̮̜̫͉̻͇̜͎̫̯̉̆̉̑̀͝͝͝g̵̡̘̠̦̫̲̬͍͊̓̈́̍̀͂̕͝ ̵̥̻̦̰̗̥̋̉̕ͅa̶͈͔̺͉̣͍̗̒̃͛̓́͌̕͝b̸̭͈̫͓̝͕̺̼͚͖̗̋͜o̸̤̲̒̉u̵̧̧̨͕̻̲͈̭̩͎̮̗̹̫̾͐͌̅̉̐̀̒̅̈́̓͌̐̾͝ͅt̵̫̭̩̿͊̏̈́͋̔̎̐̓̾̐̌͠ ̶̡̖̥̫͎̭̘̦̖̺̓̊̑̇̾̑͜͝ͅd̶̨̜͕͎̩̖͍͇̩͓̟̅̎̌ͅe̷̘̞͓͎͚͉̜͇͔̽l̵͉̼̙̞͕̆̊̈̽̈́i̷̢̡̨̮̺̼̺̼̱͖̥͎̥̎̍̋̌c̴̛̱̆͋̾͋̏̈́̊̓̐̋̾͠i̶̥̮̝̟̣̰̹̣̼̠̞̪͌̌̅̓͋͋̆̚͝o̶̡̗̺̩̝̣͙̥̮̳͈̫̮̤͂̑͊͑̎̔̉ͅu̶̡̨̨̝̥̹̘̖͍͚͍̙̓̽s̷̨̙͚̟̖͍̗̟̃͂͐̃̓̏́̑̏̐̆̃͝ ̷̦̩̤̹͉̬͉͖̮̹͎̮̺̮̔͒͊̽̃͝ͅp̸̢̡͔͈̣͓̠͈̈́́͠͠a̶̻͓̖̱̍̀͆̕n̶̛̘̟̥̩͍̊̏̅̄̈́̐̍̓́c̷̭̮̞̺͊̑̒͊̈͂̚a̷̗̩̩͚͑͝k̸̟̘̩̍̓̈́̽̔̃̒̉̃͌̕͘͠ĕ̸̜̠̻͚͒̏̍͐̈́̅s̵̞̱̲̘̞̼̯̾͗̎̅͒͊̏̇̕…̶̨̘̘̹̺̝̹͎̪̝̣̟̬̈́͋̎͐͜_

… what?!

Was he remembering it… correctly?

Ren clearly must have done something to alert Ann, who placed a hand on his face, turning it towards her. “Are you sure that you’re okay? For a moment there… it looked liked you were in pain…” she said, taking her hand away as Ren took it in his own hand.

“... I’m fine, please… I’m just overthinking too much… don’t worry about me.” Ren said, not expecting for Ann to quickly lean across and peck him on the lips.

“Silly… it’s now my job to worry about you.” Ann retracted, leaning against Ren for a moment until they heard the sound of Ryuji in the distance, jogging towards the pair with a more than tired Morgana on his shoulder. Thankfully, Ryuji wasn’t able to see any sort of romantic moment between the two, being clueless as ever as he walked up, panting slightly with that trademark grin of his.

“Phew! Finally… sorry about splitting off from you guys… but I got kinda lost! Morgana and I ended up trying out most of the food stalls set up, so we didn’t even have enough money by the end to go on more than one ride…” Ryuji gave everyone a thumbs up, with Morgana letting out a slight sigh, jumping over to land on Ren’s shoulder and subsequently drop down into his bag.

“There. Much better…” Morgana muttered, leaving Ryuji looking dejected as usual. “... he left me to go on one of the rides and-”

“Come on man… I was just looking out for your safety. It’d be pretty stupid to take any cat on a ride like that.” Ryuji responded back with, forcing Morgana to simply glare in his direction. “Yeah… yeah, you’re not a cat…”

“Wow, Ryuji. You’ve changed a lot from when we first started…” Ann teased, nudging the boy slightly. “... bring me back to the days where you two would fight over the smallest things…”

“... I can’t help it if Morgana doesn’t understand this world still and says stupid shit…” Ryuji admitted, hanging his head down slightly. “We’re teammates though, right? It’d be a shame if fighting led to something worse when it’s a life or death situation in the Metavers-”

“And that reminds me! Has this social studies visit inspired you to pursue a target?” Morgana interrupted with, making the group think for a moment before… nothing. Ren’s mind needed a rest for once, the ferris wheel incident had him in about five different places right now, and then whatever the hell he heard in his head whilst thinking back to what Akechi said earlier.

…

“... how about we discuss this tomorrow? It’s been a long day.” Ren said, pinching the bridge of his nose and propping those glasses up. “And don’t we have a certain someone’s photoshoot to be attending?”

“Wait, we do?!” Ryuji blurted out, with Ren quickly realising that despite Ann mentioning it earlier, in no way was Ryuji or Morgana initially going to be invited. “Oh, right, Ann… yeah… I’ve never actually seen one of those live…”

“Me neither… but for Lady Ann, of course! I would be honoured to attend!” Morgana shouted out, all whilst both Ren and Ann had gone bright red, Ann much more than her boyfriend.

“... w-well, let’s get going then…” Ann finally said, letting out a large sigh whilst making sure that Ryuji was ahead of them, taking the chance to stomp down on Ren’s foot.

“You absolute idiot.” she said to him, crossing her arms and pouting. “... but you’re my idiot, so make sure neither of those two get out of hand…”

**“Noted.”**

* * *

Well, the photoshoot was just as expected, at least from Ann’s perspective.

Once again, she found herself alongside her rival in this business, Mika. The pair continued to strike pose after pose in front of the cameras and gathering crowd, and all three of Ren, Ryuji and Morgana managed to get front row for this occasion. Looking towards both Ryuji to his right and Morgana down in his bag, it wasn’t a surprise to see both of them glued to the action in front of them. Ren couldn’t help but be proud though, seeing Ann actively enjoy herself in modelling, something that Ren himself had helped her through…

… it made him happy. From listening to her on the ferris wheel, Ren realised just how lucky he was, to feel love for the first time in his life after such a rough time growing up, and then the incident was the icing on the cake. There were only two people he had told what truly happened, Ann and William Reed. The latter didn’t exactly matter, however, Ren felt something from the man, especially after hearing his own story. Ann mattered to him though, because he knew that she would support him through anything, even in the early stages of their relationship.

That was the vow they made after all.

“Hey…” Ren felt a tap on his shoulder, turning over to see Ryuji lean slightly closer in his direction. “... y’know, as a guy thing… who do you prefer out of those two? Ann, or the other chick?”

Oh, Ren, why must your mind go blank at a time like this. It’s such an easy question too!

“... yeah, Ann. 100%.”

“Took you a while, eh?” Ryuji raised his eyebrows multiple times, leaning an arm on Ren’s shoulder and forcing him to slightly blush. “Between you and me, I’ve caught Ann catching looks at you when you’re not looking… what if she’s into you?”

“That’d be pretty great…” Ren returned to looking towards the shoot happening, turning around just in time to catch a wink and what looked to be a kiss blown in his direction. With the cameras rolling, it was no wonder that the crowd got riled up because of that, however, they definitely seemed to be paying more attention to Mika.

_“Be still my fucking heart.”_

Ren didn’t even want to look at Morgana through all of this, it’d probably make him regret everything leading up to that point. Before they knew it, the shoot had come to an end, and Ann met up with the two boys and feline, looking more than a bit excited with his head poking out of Ren’s bag.

“Hey so-”

“Miss Takamaki!”

A voice interrupted what Ann was trying to start off saying, and it turns out to be a sharply dressed man standing alongside another man, this one with a camera up and around his neck. Ren could tell they were most likely the organiser and main cameraman of the shoot respectively, probably representing one of the magazines Ann featured in from time to time.

“... well, once again, we appreciate the effort you put into this shoot, however, we’ve decided to make Mika the main attraction once again when it comes to the final product. The crowd clearly prefer her and…” the organiser started to say, which is when Ren himself stepped forward and cleared his throat.

“Wait… wait, do you really think you should be saying that sort of stuff to her?” the boy started to say, surprising everyone present, with the cameraman clearly annoyed at his butting in. “As an upcoming model, she should be given encouragement, not told that others are better and simply don’t prefer her. Do you know what that could do to someone’s thought process?”

“Nobody asked you for your input, kid. What we say, goes. And as somebody watching, you would have clearly seen the large amount of support for Mika-chan.” the organise spoke out, with Ren still not backing down, instead pushing his glasses up and stepping slightly closer.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Ahem!”

Stepping into the conversation was Mika herself, definitely looking the part of an established model, glaring at all those in conversation, mainly that of Ann and Ren. Ann took the decision to stand just that little bit closer to Ren.

“I don’t think that there’s a single problem with the terms agreed. Face it, Takamaki. You’re average at best, and the look? Meh... “ Mika said, definitely with some malice behind it, and both Ren and Ryuji looked on in frustration. “Leave this to the professionals, and stop thinking you can be the next big thing when you never planned to take modelling as seriously as you should.”

“What gives you the right to say stuff like that?!” Ryuji shouted out, an arm held out in front of him that belonged to Ren.

Ren could tell Ann wasn’t liking the situation, which he tried to get involved in only to be stopped by Mika herself, who raised a finger up towards his lips.

“Don’t fucking touch me-”

“Shh… you know deep down that-”

Ren swiped Mika’s hand away, causing her to reel backwards, still keeping that smirk on her face. “You know… if you were more open minded that I can see a future for the both of us, and for you in modelling especially… magazines are lacking male models around here after all…”

_… modelling? For me?_

“... the hell are you on about? I came here to support a friend, not-” Ren stated back, already seeing Mika talking with the organiser and cameraman. He then looked over towards Ann, who was far from pleased.

“What a bitch… please, give me a reason not to slap her right here, right now…” Ann was headed straight in Mika’s direction, held back by both Ryuji and Ren.

“Not worth it, dude.” Ryuji was one to keep a cool head in this situation, now also catching the gaze of Mika who simply laughed in his direction. “We don’t need to waste our time here.”

Eventually, that’s what they did, leave before the situation could get any worse. Ryuji held his hands behind his head, and Ren comforting Ann. She turned to him, remembering Mika’s words, which Ren still look fairly troubled about. “... why do you think that bitch asked you to model? It seems like it was just something to like, spite me.”

“I never really… considered it.”

It came from out of nowhere, for sure.

…

… and then it hit him.

“Ann, can I ask you for a favour?” Ren said, holding her slightly closer. “I-I… want to try something out…

* * *

**Apartment 035**

**05/06/16**

**Night**

* * *

2:00 AM.

Not the greatest time to be alerted to a loud banging at the door, especially whilst you’re already uncomfortable sleeping on a couch that your friend had split alcohol on. That was the current situation for William Reed, and he wasn’t happy at all. William was in a plain grey shirt, black shorts and no shoes, apart from a pair of slip ons nearby. Acting on instinct, William reached over to grab his scarf, wrapping it around his neck before slumbering over towards the door, head banging and vision slightly blurred.

“This is fucked up… let a guy sleep…” William eventually grabbed the main key from a nearby table, inserting it into a lock and opening the door to reveal… a pretty rough looking man, sporting ripped jeans and a long sleeved black jacket. “Can I… help you? Or whatever…”

“You sure can, just tell me if this is the address where we can find a certain red haired lady.” the thug said in his direction, causing William to go wide eyed for a moment. “She owes us something, and somebody told me that we could find her here-”

***SLAM***

William slammed the door shut in an instant… then it all came back to him… Florence was right. These goons of Kaneshiro had managed to track them to where they lived, and now? It was time to fight back.

“My fuckin’ other-wordly powers would be nice… real nice…” he muttered to himself, feeling the thug continue to pound on the door as he leaned up against it. Then after a moment, he heard the man walk away, only to yell out something along the lines of ‘we need more’.

William looked up to the ceiling, breathing heavily and trying hard not to lose it then and there. As much as he wanted to keep a cool attitude, facing death itself, not that long from when he was nearly killed in the Metaverse, it took a toll on his sanity. That’s when a light was switched on, revealing three familiar figures in their groggy states.

Robbie had thrown on a hoodie, combined with his tracksuit bottoms and slippers. Alexander was still buttoning up a white shirt, wearing shorts similar to William. Meanwhile, Florence was in a simple vest and leggings, and William couldn’t tell at all that she was even the slightest bit tired.

“What is this banging…? You look shook up.” Robbie said down to William, who walked over towards him, opening the door slightly which caused the latter to shove him away and slam it shut again.

“Flo’... the goons found us… they fuckin’ found us…!” William shouted and that caused Florence concern for once, still leaving Robbie and Alexander confused, clearly uninformed of the situation. “They want us dead… it has to be that.”

“Then we fight back, keep in mind, we’ve dealt with far worse during our stay in this country.” Florence responded with, walking over towards the door and trying to peek outside. There was nobody coming, however, the sound of footsteps and an elevator finishing its ascent… that was more than enough to keep her on guard. “They don’t have any sort of guns, that’s a certainty. If they’re the same as what we dealt with in the alleyway, then they’re as low as you can get in any sort of crime group.”

“How much shit are we gonna get in if a fight extends out into the complex?!” Robbie shouted back in response, hands up to his head. “Actually, aren’t we just under a lease from MI5 anyway? They might not be talking to us, but something I noticed is that we still have this place for however long we wish…”

“... that doesn’t seem right, I thought it was only a few years and we’ve already been here for two…” Alexander now said, to which their discussions were interrupted by more loud footsteps just outside the apartment.

“Don’t worry about that! Engage for combat!” Florence found herself at the front of the door when the handle started to shake relentlessly, nodding over towards William, who stood ready a fair distance away. On the silent count of three, the door swung open, revealing the group of goons…

… and then the agent sprung into action! William rushed forward, jumping with everything he had for a clothesline that completely knocked down the first goon, ironically being the same one he had encountered only a minute or two earlier. Now, in the shit, clearly, he visualised the scene around him. It was a fairly tight corridor, and being this late at night, disaster seemed like the only path they were going down.

I count a current total of nine, shy of ten. None of them are identifiably armed. My predictions are that half of them were dropped on their heads as a child, at least three quarters of them dropped out of school to snort coke in an alleyway, and all of them definitely lost their virginity to a prostitute.

Kaneshiro… you fucking pig…

A lot of shouting followed, because to the goons, this was a clear win for them. William had a plan though, running forward to the left and performing a forward roll underneath the legs of one of the heavier goons. There was no looking back now. He kept on running as fast as his legs would take him, hearing the sounds of footsteps made him realise he was still on the correct path.

He just hoped that his team would be able to take advantage of this.

A grand total of four goons had followed William… and somebody else, who was able to successfully run past them and catch up with the boy. Florence wouldn’t let him go by himself, sensing some sort of plan to make it easier on the group.

“Why are you-”

“You can’t go by yourself. And I’m fully confident in the others’ abilities to hold the majority off.”

* * *

Back at the apartment, the goons had decided to enter it, leaving them searching around for anyone else as their main target had escaped. Out from within the kitchen, Robbie came out swinging with a rolling pin, battering it over the back of one of the goon’s head. He threw it away, laughing in the face of fear and beckoning another to come at him. Hand to hand combat wasn’t always the ginger’s speciality, however, a few sloppy punches thrown were easily avoided until one of them caught him across the nose.

“Aw! You bitch!” he shouted before taking the man in a headlock, using his first to scrape across the head of the man in order to wear him down. A swift right hook rocked the goon, sending him down to a knee as Robbie attempted to finish him off, until he was cornered in the kitchen by an incoming goon, holding him by the throat and delivering a shot to the stomach. Robbie winded, then a second shot was delivered, making him wind again before he finally fought back with a headbutt…

_Ḅ̷̾̈́̾͘͝è̵̞ͅ ̸̲̰̺̠͑̇̑̎̔͜a̵̢̪̫̬͓̲̓̊́͗͘ ̴̟͙̩̘͉̳̿̆̕͠h̶͚͓͙́̈́̕̕e̷̯͖͗r̷̺̻̩͇̺̦̂ŏ̵̙.̶͕́̉̍_

**…!**

A voice in his head… and it sounded so… evil.

Without thinking, Robbie grabbed the thug that had just attacked him, delivering headbutt after headbutt. It was sickening to watch from the downed thug’s point of view, each crack signalling one brain cell going loose, or something along those lines. The goon dropped, leading Robbie to shake his head, snapping him out of whatever state he was in.

“... urgh, fuck…”

…

On the other side of the apartment, Alexander had his own hands full, dealing with three of the five goons that had stayed instead of chasing after William and Florence. The boy eloquently dodged a dual assault, unfortunately falling victim to his hair being pulled down and towards one of the goons. It was unorthodox and straight out of high school, but fuck, did it hurt. Alexander responded by grabbing a lampshade, pulling it hard enough to detach it from the socket, swinging it around to strike one of the thugs down.

The material shattered, banging against the man and knocking him clean out… at least that’s what it looked like. Alexander found himself being picked up and thrown across the room, onto one of the couches as it toppled over. He used it as a shield of sorts, pushing the couch into the two goons to send them into a wall.

_T̷̲̠̒͒̌͋̆͜a̴̪̞͐̓̈́̿͜͝͠k̶̢͉̺̪̕͜e̷̩̙̟̪̝̔̈ ̸̰͍̹̟̥̣͛c̶̢̱̗̻͇̈́̿̔͑͘͜͝ō̴̺̼̫n̶̨̛̈́̓͌ṱ̸̑͗̂r̵̺̬̞̪̈́̐͜o̴͇̜̹̩͘l̸̨̧͈͚̈́́̃̽̆̂.̸̻̗̻̘̉̅̓̚͜͝_

**…!**

A voice in his head… and it sounded so… twisted.

There was no time to think, and Alexander found his body reaching over to grab an empty glass. He shattered it over the skull of one of the men, catching the other off guard with a well executed pressure point jab to the back of the neck, then a quick snap of the head followed. The goons were out.

All of them in fact, bringing Alexander and Robbie back together as they scanned their damaged apartment.

“... I legit just want to go back to sleep and die… urgh…” Robbie groaned out. “... reckon we should drag these fuckers outside…?”

“A good idea.” Alexander replied with.

* * *

William and Florence had been running for a while now, eventually finding the source of all these thugs in terms of three parked cars outside the main complex. It was nowhere near the main parking spaces, but with it being 2:00 AM, I really don’t think they cared that much.

“You’re coming with us, like it or not… especially after you made the first move on our turf.” a voice behind them said, with it being who William could presume to be the leader of this small group. He was fairly big, towering over both of them, even with William standing at over 6’0”. “... Mr. Kaneshiro can deal with you himself, so the best move is…”

Then, a radio of sorts started to crackle from one of the goon’s pockets. They pulled it out, tuning it a few times before a voice came over. “That must be the group we split off from…”

“Oh shit! This thing works!” the voice over the radio said, with both agents identifying it as Robbie, one of their own. “I didn’t know if anyone would pick up… sooooo… if you want to come and save some of your friends, I recommend you get your fuckin’ arses back up here before-”

A scuffle in the background, yep, somehow these goons could still fight. “... you get the fuckin’ idea! You made a shitty decision trying to attack us at homebase!” Robbie finished the call off, turning communications off entirely.

“Those… those… those IDIOTS!” the larger thug yelled, even scaring some of his own crew in the process. “If we go back without what Mr. Kaneshiro wanted, we’ll be put down quicker than we can blink… this operation can’t fail! Get them!”

There were only four of them, one being the leader, who had decided to take a step back and observe.

…

A minute later, he found himself having to get involved.

William had taken out two of the men, whilst Florence took out one herself, all three with general ease. As it turns out, official combat training benefited the both of them. What surprised William the most, considering he was the only one to see this was a visible silver handgun laying on the floor. His suspicions earlier were wrong, clearly. The fact that even one of them was willing to bring a gun made him unsure about the future, but confident in the fact that they **NEEDED** to bring down Junya Kaneshiro.

Out of view, he pocketed the gun for himself, a Beretta 92, fearing the worst for both him and Florence.

…

That’s when the worst came to fruition.

William found himself staring into space for some reason, almost entranced. Florence tried to fight the larger goon for herself, instead getting knocked down to the ground with a thud. He tried running, attempting to save her when an arm struck out, swinging and catching William across the face.

“.... shit… motherfuckin’... shit…”

He got up again, just in time to see Florence get struck down again.

….

_How many bullets are in the chamber?_

_Who knew…_

… in that moment, there had to be one.

_**S̴͎̙̒̆̆̈H̶̦̼̖̘̎͗̂ͅƠ̶̜̰̮̊̅͌͜͝O̸̜͈̘͑͆Ţ̸̘̫̮̟̠͋̌̐̑͋ ̴̡̨̥̓̇͜H̶̰̺̞͍͌͊̋͝Ï̸͇͑̄̿͘͠M̸̳̥͈͚̓͛̋.̷̡̥͖̝̗̀̔͒͝** _

_**S̴͎̙̒̆̆̈H̶̦̼̖̘̎͗̂ͅƠ̶̜̰̮̊̅͌͜͝O̸̜͈̘͑͆Ţ̸̘̫̮̟̠͋̌̐̑͋ ̴̡̨̥̓̇͜H̶̰̺̞͍͌͊̋͝Ï̸͇͑̄̿͘͠M̸̳̥͈͚̓͛̋.̷̡̥͖̝̗̀̔͒͝** _

_**S̴͎̙̒̆̆̈H̶̦̼̖̘̎͗̂ͅƠ̶̜̰̮̊̅͌͜͝O̸̜͈̘͑͆Ţ̸̘̫̮̟̠͋̌̐̑͋ ̴̡̨̥̓̇͜H̶̰̺̞͍͌͊̋͝Ï̸͇͑̄̿͘͠M̸̳̥͈͚̓͛̋.̷̡̥͖̝̗̀̔͒͝** _

**Life was too short.**

William aimed at the goon’s chest, just as he went to lift Florence up from the ground, clicking the trigger and hearing the loud sound echo into the night. His hand was shaking all the way through, but it hit… he could tell because the large man immediately fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and keeling over.

Florence looked up, just as William dropped the gun over the man’s body. He made sure that the shot wouldn’t kill on impact. What happened afterwards? That wasn’t his problem anymore, because his group had a crime boss to take down.

…

William shook his head in disbelief after a moment, still standing up, with Florence using his arms as a way to climb to her feet, leaning against him after suffering some damage whilst fighting alone.

“Did you… s-shoot him…?”

“... **yeah**.”

The impact of a single word, even if it was such a simple one he used all the time.

He walked over to the entrance of the complex, hearing a car coming across the road, carrying Florence by her arm. In actuality, the car was another set of goons, who all rushed over, seeing their fallen friend and putting together the pieces of what happened. William looked towards them, raising a hand up as a means to speak.

“You should all be reporting back to your boss, tell him to stop interfering in our business or the consequences will be worse. I have associates across this country. Come for our heads again, and I have absolutely no issues in coming for yours and hanging them on my wall.”

…

How could silence feel so dreadful? Each goon scrambled to help up some of their friends, not even wanting to say anything to William, who made his way back into the complex and slammed the door shut with incredible force.

He was taught from a young age that sometimes, lying was sometimes the only option. To make sure his friends were safe, to make sure that he was safe. This game would be played on their terms, and not Kaneshiro’s. William hoped that threatening the low level goons would scare them off for now, but as for Kaneshiro? The process involving the other world needed to take place tomorrow, stat.

Florence coughed, clearly still affected by the incident as William helped her to walk across to the stairs. “What was that all about… we don’t have anything… you don’t have anything like that…”

Again, another set of coughs. William’s mood didn’t change from the typical deadpan expression he had kept since somehow being compelled to fire the gun from earlier.

“In wars like this, there can be no certainties, hmm?” he replied with, shaking his head.

“I believe we have a lot to cover up in the meantime.”

He was right, she thought.

There would be no rest for the weary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like... two weeks, nearly? I don't know, lmao.
> 
> I kind of lost my vibe for Liberation / Tales of Persona last week, which is why this Chapter is a bit more dragged out than others. There's a lot that goes down. I've also discovered that I probably need to work on my romantic scenes with Ren & Ann, but of course, I hope that the way I'm presenting their relationship is working out for those reading! Mika as part of the plot was a decision I made late on, and it'll lead to a different path down the road for Ren especially.
> 
> The last scene with my OCs was a custom scenario I initially intended for the Phantom Thieves in terms of them taking down Kaneshiro. The glitched text? That means something, and I won't say anything more. It gives these 'voices' a bit more of an impact, y'know. What these mean is directly inspired by something else, and it will be further expanded on in later chapters. Giving this plot and game a more darker feel is what I'm aiming for, as well as the development of these OCs so they mean more than just simply... to be there.
> 
> Thank you for reading once more, you guys are awesome. :D


	18. Shot Through The Heart, It's All Part Of A Game We Call Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot going on in the lives of the Phantom Thieves. Ren is prepared to take a step in a brand new direction when it comes to his future, with Ann by his side all the way. Meanwhile, the eccentric deal proposed by a certain artist has the group's interest peak as they learn to discover that this artist's master has more to him behind the scenes. On the other hand, William ponders his own purpose within the world before making a tough decision with the rest of his team.

* * *

**06/06/16**

**Shibuya**

**Night**

* * *

The flick of a lighter… and the smoke that followed.

It wasn’t normal for William to be out this late, situated away from his apartment and instead sitting on a bench in the middle of Shibuya itself. He hadn’t spoken to many people since the previous events that were still embedded in his mind. Cleaning up the scene was a task in itself, from reorganising the inside of the damaged apartment to carrying many of the unconscious bodies down and out the front of the complex without being noticed… all in a day’s work for secret government agents.

Then again, was that their title anymore? MI5 hadn’t bothered to contact them in over a month.

To William, they were lone rogues on borrowed time. Trying to find some sort of purpose and explanation to their abandonment. True, they could simply fly back to the United Kingdom… but nothing would be waiting for them at the end. They had sacrificed any sort of normal life over four years ago to dedicate themselves to saving the country, and eventually now, what felt like the world. Why now? Why in Japan?

“...”

He sighed, there weren't that many people around at this time of night. A certain face seemed to peak his interest though, with what looked like a high school student wandering around with a small canvas tucked under his arm.

“... what a weirdo.”

The student was gone before long, slowly walking out into the train station and into the night. William took another drag from the cigarette, leaning back further and exhaling smoke. His mind changed topics just like that, to the main source of the incident… the shot fired against Junya Kaneshiro, metaphorically in a way. In reality, William had indeed shot a man point blank in the stomach. It felt like instinct, like he had to do it… that’s what his mind was telling him.

… the voices in his head though, just what were they?

The first nightmare… then only the following day, again, another recollection of that same memory six years ago.

These voices, were they linked to his appearance within the cognitive world? It… couldn’t be, right? At the same time, hallucinating your own body being controlled and hearing commands from an unknown source either indicated insanity or the supernatural occuring. In the Metaverse and from Jungian psychology, he had learned of the ‘Persona’. His other self he controlled…

… was that it? Was his Persona really able to communicate with him like this?

No, that’s shit you see in fantasy, then again, here he was knowing that himself and others could use a phone application to become ‘heroes’ of sorts in a world made up of the public’s cognition. This was just one massive loophole that started with a bunch of high school students, and William wanted to just understand one thing. Why him? Why them? Why-

_No… just don’t question anything, don’t dwell on anything. Let it all happen. Move on to what you were here for._

…

“Will.”

A voice, just to the right of him. He pulled down the scarf covering his mouth, adjusting the beanie up slightly to see his colleague, Robbie. The later stood in a black coat, hands tucked into the pockets as he took a seat next to William.

“... you still shook up from the other-”

“Yes… I just haven’t been able to sleep... “ William kept his head hanging downwards, not bothering to look up. “At first, I took it in my stride. We’ve dealt with thugs, goons, etcetera. It’s just the concept of knowing that your head can be taken off at any second. I shot a man and if we don’t do something…”

“... the bullet is going to come back and bite me in the ass, or the head… heh.” he tried to chuckle it off, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the smartphone had become familiar with over the past few weeks. The app was already open, it had drawn him in like a moth to a flame.

“We were worried about you all day… but hey man, at least you’re alright…” Robbie smiled in his direction, looking over to see the navigation app open.

 **JUNYA KANESHIRO**  
**____**  
**ALL OF SHIBUYA**

“Was that there before? The bottom option?” he further asked, finger hovering over the screen. “... sorry, my memory is pretty bad.”

“Yeah, it was… there.”

William didn’t even know himself. There was one blank option left and it would finally help him discover what else this other world had in store. He thought Mementos was the only option. To endlessly roam a distorted train station with no easy way around until the endgame they’ve been looking for was to instantly jump out at them. There was no way that’d be the final destination.

There was more. A way into the heart of this criminal. Just like…

_“It was us. We changed the heart of that vile and disgusting man.”_

_“How did it all work…? That’s the main thing I wanted to know.”_

_“We steal what’s called a treasure.” Ryuji said, adding his contributions to the discussion. “With Kamoshida, it was some sort of medal he had won whilst competing in the olympics. It’s basically something they hold dear to them.”_

Yes… yes! The Phantom Thieves! This is what they did to him!

A sudden burst of inspiration hit William quickly, forcing him to stand up. He kept his phone out for a moment, simply standing frozen with Robbie quickly standing back up himself.

“What is it?!” Robbie shouted out, clearly startled by the sudden rise. He looked over at William clutching the phone tightly, then placing it back into his pocket and reaching into the opposite one. He shuffled past the packet of cigarettes, reaching for another object and pulling out…

… the same gun he had obtained the day before.

William cocked the gun back, not bothering if anyone was nearby to hear it. He had purchased ammunition earlier, recalling his interaction with the disgruntled owner. That didn’t matter, again, another thing to add to the list of thoughts in his head that didn’t hold any significant meaning for this moment.

“Let me ask you one question… and it’ll tell me whether this really is the right path we’re walking on,” William just stared down at the gun, clearly illegal, clearly imported from elsewhere. How a low life goon got his hands on something like this surprised him. “Ever since I made my way into the Metaverse using this app, I’ve been hearing voices in my head. Telling me to say certain things, take action, or even proceed to haunt me in my sleep.”

“Rob. Tell me. Is this the case for you?”

There was silence for a moment as Robbie looked up to the sky, admiring the night for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Yeah, yeah, it is. The day after we nearly died and even when we had to defend our apartment. There’s something speaking to me in my head and I don’t know what it is.”

Again, there was more silence, most likely for the two to really think about their situation.

“Did you ever think how corrupt the law is? Not here, not across in the U.K., but wherever you go, wherever you look… there’s corruption,” William started to say, his words not having much emotion behind them compared to what he was previously saying. “The company that hired us to protect their country is nowhere to be found, not to mention straight after handing us new devices solely for communication purposes and doing a better job of protecting the world.”

“What are you saying… what are you trying to get at?”

“...”

William withdrew the handgun, placing it in his pocket again. He lifted the scarf up slightly, letting out another deep sigh.

“If you were smart enough, you’d realise that if we don’t discover what is truly behind the cognitive world, then you may as well throw us out on the streets and let us to rot.”

Robbie walked forward to meet his colleague, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Man… are you sure you’re feeling alright? It’s-”

“Tomorrow. I’m going to find Kaneshiro, whether you come along is your choice and yours alone.”

The two didn’t really know what to say, at least on Robbie’s end. He took back his hand and stood alongside William, staring up into the night with him. A memory a full year ago played back in his mind, to when they were a year in, starting out in an unknown country with no sense of direction still.

Never once, did he want to stargaze with this amount of tension between him and a friend. One of the only friends he felt he had in this world.

“... it’s to do with his name in the application, isn’t it? Do you really think you can somehow access that guy’s cognition? That seems… far fetched as all hell and I would believe that on any other day.” Robbie started to say, seeing that William had now started to look over towards him.

“That near death experience and awakening to my other self, the warrior I never actually knew I had… man, that was… amazing. I want to know more…! This voice calling out to me is a sign of that world’s impact.” Robbie continued on, clenching his hand into a fist and raising it to the sky.

“So, fine! We’ll discover ourselves **together!** ”

William felt surprised at this revelation, hell, he himself felt crazy for suggesting to directly chase after a criminal mob boss. It took a moment, however, he too lifted his fist up to match Robbie’s, lowering the scarf down to smile. It was something that he had meaning to do, just the simple act of smiling.

Before he knew it, the curves of his lips straightened out once more, and his eyes peered down at the pulsating red and black screen displayed on his phone.

His purpose...

* * *

**07/06/16**

**Sakamoto Household**

**Night**

* * *

**(1) new message: Ren Amamiya**

**Ren: did you need help with the english work?**

**Ryuji: oh**

**Ryuji: yeah man, i asked ann but i think she’s already sleeping**

**Ryuji: or distracted with something**

**Ren: ah, okay. she did look quite tired today.**

**Ren: i’m second best when it comes to this though, lmao.**

**Ryuji: you know that i need all the help i can get!!! xD**

**Ryuji: but before that, do u just wanna talk about something real quick… it’s been on my mind.**

**Ren: this better be good.**

**Ren: Morgana might tear you a new asshole if he finds out you’re still slacking on your work.**

**Ryuji: isn’t he with you right now?**

**Ren: yeah, just out of view though.**

**Ren: but go on, please.**

**Ryuji: um**

**Ryuji: what are you thoughts on love? romance, y’know, all that shit**

**Ren: lmao, you trying to get in some girl’s pants?**

**Ryuji: stfu**

**Ren: ;))))**

**Ryuji: for real**

**Ryuji: what do you think?**

**Ryuji: like, idek, i feel i need that extra shoulder to lean on**

**Ren: you have us to lean on, it shouldn’t simply be exclusive to a relationship.**

**Ren: you should pursue love if you know that it’s right and that’s where your heart is set.**

**Ryuji: ig you’re right, ya**

**Ryuji: sorry, it’s just been bugging me**

**Ren: dude, you’ll find someone trust me. you’re a great guy that’s had this label placed upon them so others don’t see you as anything but this ‘troublemaker’.**

**Ren: that’s not me making you feel bad, it’s the hard truth.**

**Ren: hell, i’m still a fucking criminal, lmao.**

**Ryuji: i still feel bad about your situation though, it’s so stupid that nobody will think anything different of you.**

**Ryuji: or of us, even ann.**

**Ren: that’s what we’re fighting against.**

**Ren: to change this perspective.**

**Ren: we’ve been shit on by the system, so now it’s our job to fix society.**

**Ryuji: yeah!**

**Ryuji: and then maybe we can get some chicks with all this fame.**

**Ren: you’re thinking about this in the wrong way, still.**

**Ren: Morgana agrees.**

**Ryuji: i thought he wasn’t looking???**

**Ren: he is now.**

**Ren: the best kind of heroes operate from the shadows.**

**Ren: in my opinion, anyway.**

**Ryuji: that’s a cool way of putting things**

**…**

**Ryuji: ah shit!**

**Ren: what?**

**Ryuji: english!**

**Ren: let’s get started before morgana claws my eyes out for not going to sleep.**

**Ryuji: hell yeah**

-

It was only an hour later when Ryuji set his phone down on the desk in his room.

He drove a hand through his hair, looking down at the work he had constructed. At best, it’d barely get him past his teacher. Ryuji knew that school was never his specialty, and he thought about that way too much. Something had to change though, right? As much as being a Phantom Thief was adrenaline pumping and rewarding, simply changing the hearts of corrupted adults wasn’t going to secure him a stable future.

“Love…” he thought back to that topic, staring up into the ceiling for some sort of inspiration. Nothing came to him though. Ren’s messages played through his mind again, it wasn’t the end goal for him like what he was believing whilst still a delinquent, not caring about a single thing or a single person. His father made him lose all trust in others and it took a decent amount of time to get that back. “... one day man, one day… someone has gotta control me… heh.”

He tried to forget the past, and look towards his future. Ryuji thought it would be beneficial to rest up for tomorrow, the only thing he currently had to do was fight through conflicting thoughts.

* * *

**07/06/16**

**Takamaki Household**

**Night**

* * *

“Yesss! Oh my God! He’ll look so good in this…!”

Ann was scared of her own wardrobe, simply because of the amount of clothes that would always burst out and take too long to neatly fold back up. This time though, it was different with the task she had been set. Despite the dislike Ann had for her modelling rival, Mika, what the latter had said to Ren Amamiya gave the couple an idea. Ren suggested that trying out this whole ‘modelling’ business wouldn’t hurt and to stick it to Mika, especially with how she was acting around the group, would definitely make him feel good inside.

With an earlier phone call, Ann had arranged for a seperate and smaller agency to give Ren a chance, or a tryout to say. She would also be taking part in this shoot, going head to head with her usual agency that was still proud to display Mika as their main attraction. Of course, the agency weren’t exactly too bothered about missing out on Ann, once again showing their favour towards Mika.

That’s what motivated her to not only succeed herself, but show that Ren could do it just as well.

Rooting through the disorganised mess of clothes, Ann pulls out a long sleeved black jumper that looked like it would fit Ren. She took a moment to realise that yes, this was her closet, and maybe most of these wouldn’t fit Ren… hey, they’d make it work. That was when one other item caught her attention, forcing her to drop the jumper and jump over a stack of clothes just to grab it.

A leather jacket? This was from one of her last shoots…

_Oh, right, Ren in a leather jacket…_

Ann quickly walked over to her bed, grabbing the phone she left on top of it and navigating to the contacts list. She tapped Ren’s name, hearing the phone start to ring as it didn’t take long for the phone to be picked up at the other end. It was fairly late into the night, however, Ren was still quite awake.

“Rennnn! Hi!” Ann cheerfully said, hearing him move the phone around before hearing that familiar groggy voice.

“Hi… how are you…?” Ren said from the other end, moving around once more and a slight creak emerged, presumably from the bed he was laying on. “Sorry, just had to move Morgana over slightly…”

“Great! Um… I had a slight nap, and now I’ve gotten myself into a bit of a pickle…” Ann responded with, using her feet to move around some more piles of clothes. “... soooo, we need to go clothes shopping, as soon as possible.”

“Didn’t you say that some of your clothes would fit me? I don’t want you spending a lot of money on this... “ Ren said from the other side, clearly sitting down back on his bed due to the creak heard from the poor frame. “... we also have what Yusuke said to think about.”

“Oh… yeah…”

**…**

_Ann thought back to yesterday, the day in which Yusuke had given her, Ren and Ryuji tickets to the art exhibit hosted by Madarame. The nationwide known artist wasn’t exactly up Ann’s alley, but Yusuke’s early proposition had her at least slightly interested. Ryuji and Morgana were completely against the idea of her becoming a model for this ‘random’ artist. Ren was also hesitant in letting her do it, however, something about Madarame intrigued him to let Ann go through with it. Ren himself wanted to study Madarame, because somebody who had the fame he did could easily have something to hide._

_And then there was the condition of Yusuke, bags under his eyes, yet, always polite and welcoming, even if his last request seemed slightly ‘off’._

_They arrived fairly early, and the group split off from one another. Ren, Ryuji and Morgana pretended to examine each art piece whilst older people looked down upon teenagers roaming around this event with apparent ‘bad intentions’. On the other side, Ann remembered as Yusuke described one of Madarame’s latest pieces… letting on to something that she probably wasn’t meant to know, which was the fact that Madarame’s piece was actually created by Yusuke himself._

…

That brings her to this point, having actually accepted Yusuke’s invitation to be the model for his next art piece.

“It’s fine if you still wish to go, after all, Ryuji and I will be there for you if anything seems off.” Ren said to her whilst she was trying to find her next words. Ann smiled to herself, twirling a twintail around her index finger as a distraction.

“Thank you… I know I can always count on the two of you,”

“And um… Ann?” Ren asked, almost innocently.

“Yes?”

“I love you... “ Ren stuttered slightly, and Ann could sense the blush from the other side of the phone, blushing herself.

“I love you too.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow… Morgana is starting to claw at me.” Ren said after a few seconds, yawning slightly which in turn made Ann yawn. He had that effect on her.

“You need to get your sleep!” Ann giggled at the end, cheeks still bright red. “Goodnight then… we’ll sort everything out soon, okay?”

“Okay… goodnight, then.” Ren softly said back, the two disconnecting the call as Ann threw herself back onto her bed. She would’ve tried falling asleep then and there, but a quick sit up and the scene was less than pretty for simply getting one piece of clothing that might fit Ren.

It’d be rude to leave the mess to the caretaker after all.

* * *

**10/06/16**

**Madarame’s Residence**

**After School**

* * *

“He lives in a uh… shack?” Ryuji questioned, looking up towards the residence of Madarame just to the right of Ren, who was standing in the middle of his group. “... I’m not saying that I didn’t expect this, but I didn’t expect this.”

It was a few days of basic high school life for the group before the scheduled date with Yusuke over at Madarame’s place. Ann was of course, told to come alone by the artist, however, Ren and Ryuji served as backup if a worst case scenario was to happen. Ren especially, insisted on coming along, and having already interacted with Yusuke before, he was sure that the artist wouldn’t mind. Ryuji on the other hand, well, Yusuke didn’t seem to be too fond of the ‘loudmouth’ of the group, but wherever the Phantom Thieves went, Ryuji would be there too. Morgana was safely concealed within Ren’s bag, who out of the group was the most worried for Ann’s safety when it came to Yusuke.

A moment later and some muttering between the group, Ann walked up towards the door and knocked a few times. It didn’t seem to get any sort of attention at first, however another few knocks and the door swung open, revealing a still rather tired Yusuke. The latter managed to keep a smile on his face though simply at the sight of Ann.

“Ah, Takamaki-san. I’m so happy that you accepted my deal.” Yusuke said, looking over towards the company she brought, first at Ren, still with a smile on his face. “Amamiya-san, it’s nice to see you once more… may I ask why you’re here though?”

“I was just interested in seeing your art close up, the exhibit got me inspired.” Ren managed to crack a smile back to Yusuke, who now turned his attention towards the blonde who was busy browsing through his phone.

“And I suppose you are the same?” he said, keeping that polite demeanor about him.

“Oh! Yeah! Yeah! The same as that guy!” Ryuji nodded in Ren’s direction, who tried not to sigh as Yusuke stood to the side of the door, allowing them to enter the residence.

“Hmm… I suppose it’ll be fine, as long as you don’t distract me... “ Yusuke said, seeing each member slowly enter, Ryuji being the last shut the door behind him and took a moment to observe his surroundings.

“Wow… so where’s uh… Madarame?” Ann spoke up with, expecting him to be home. Yusuke cleared his throat before speaking again.

“He’s been very busy in recent days with the media and business executives. So, currently, he is out,” Yusuke said back, walking further into the shack and starting to ascend the staircase. “Sensei expects me to finish my studies and come up with new ideas whilst he’s gone, and therefore, I’m always at work.”

Ren raised his eyebrows at that statement, and with the condition that Yusuke always seems to be in… could there be something else he isn’t saying? Determined to find out the truth, Ren walks forward first out of the group and up to Yusuke.

“Kitagawa-kun, when you say that you’re always at work, how long has this been going for? Does Madarame always expect this every day?” he questioned, pushing his glasses up in the process.

Yusuke simply stood there for a second, brushing a tuft of hair out of his face. “Hmm… I assure you Amamiya-san, this is fairly normal. It is the only way that I will get better at my craft.”

“After all, wouldn’t you want to put your all into something that you are very passionate about?” Yusuke asked him, heading further as Ren thought over that question in his mind, trying to relate it to his escapades as a Phantom Thief, if that somehow even related to this. In the end, he’d always be passionate about justice and condemning these corrupted criminals.

Ren gestured for Ann and Ryuji to follow as the two finished up a brief conversation with one another, presumably about Yusuke and the state he was in. Ann led the way, Ryuji behind her as Morgana emerged for a brief moment. “You’re curious about Madarame, aren’t you? That Yusuke is sure dedicated…”

“There’s something going on between those two, something he’s not telling us,” Ren said, continuing the walk forward whilst keeping his voice down. “... why though? All these times in which we’ve ran into Yusuke, he’s looked less and less energised. Yet, he’s clearly still passionate about this…”

“A darker undertone perhaps?”

“Exactly that,” Ren followed up with, getting to the final step at the top of the stairs and watching Yusuke direct Ann towards one of the rooms with Ryuji following slowly behind, still trying to get a grasp on the scenery still. “The place seems to be in nice shape, and I can identify Madarame as the quiet and reserved type.”

As Ren stepped forward onto the second floor, Morgana jumped out of his bag and onto the boy’s shoulder. “How about you go on forward, Ren? Nobody else is home and this is the perfect chance to scan the area! I am fit for the job!”

“... yeah, just be careful, alright?”

“Roger!” Morgana leaped off and onto the floor, scuttling off and out of sight whilst Ren just hoped that his feline friend would be okay, even if Madarame came home whilst they were still occupied with Yusuke.

He hurried on ahead to join the rest of the group in a fairly empty room. There were a few stools set up in the corner, Ryuji already sitting down on one of them, whilst a large canvas was set up on an easel. Ann sat down on a seperate seat, which seemed a lot more comfortable than what he and Ryuji were now sitting on.

“What do you think?” Ren leaned over to Ryuji and said after taking his seat, arms crossed and bag now layed out on the floor. He kept his voice down, however, Yusuke was too busy setting up and most likely wouldn’t have heard them regardless. “About Yusuke, Madarame, this whole thing.”

Ryuji took a moment to ponder the thought before leaning back over in Ren’s direction, whispering in his ear. “Man, we can put Madarame on the back burner for a mo’? This guy is giving Ann the eyes and I don’t like it…”

I mean, Ren could tell that Yusuke was interested, just not in… that way. He almost saw Ann as a priceless piece of art, and with the current gestures he was making in her direction, using his fingers to make a frame of sorts to capture Ann herself… either Yusuke was really into visualisation, or… yeah, that was probably it.

“May I ask you if you have ever modelled before, Takamaki-san?” Yusuke said, still trying to set the scene for himself in his head, turning around to grab a pencil.

“O-oh…! Yeah, it’s like a hobby for me at this point… I’ve just never done anything like this before, y’know, with art and all that… haha…” Ann said, with her words simply just floating past Yusuke as he continued to gather a few brushes together.

There was no response for a while, Yusuke simply was too busy at work. Ann felt a ping in her pocket, reaching into her jacket to retrieve her phone.

**New text (1): Ren Amamiya**

**Ren: s m i l e :)**

She looked over towards him, with Ren simply shooting a smile back. Ann took that as a reason to feel at least a little more comfortable in this situation, smiling back in his direction.

“Well then, shall we get started?” Yusuke said to interrupt the slight moment of silence, sitting down behind the canvas. “If you could stay still throughout this process, Takamaki-san, it would be much appreciated…”

The boy pointed a paintbrush at Ann, closing one eye and visualising with the other before finally placing brush to canvas. Ren and Ryuji simply had to sit and observe for what felt like an hour or so, however, Ren himself wanted to discover more information about Madarame. If he had to push Yusuke for these answers whilst he was at work, so be it.

“Kitagawa-kun…” Ren started, looking over to see him completely at focus with the canvas, taking quick glances over at Ann before slowly sketching on the ever growing canvas. “When did you realise you wanted to become an artist? Was it because of Madarame?”

“...”

No answer, as expected.

Ren wanted to open his mouth again, he needed Yusuke to co-operate with him. Ann hadn’t moved in a few minutes, looking quite uncomfortable at having to hold the same position of one leg crossed over the other and an arm leaning against her thigh.

“Hey! You listening to him…?” Ryuji said not too long later, crossing his arms and once again getting no response.

“I guess it’s no use,” Ren leaned over to Ryuji and said, not bothering to keep his voice down as Yusuke still probably wouldn’t hear them. “I planned to ask more about Madarame, but I don’t think we’re going to get anything whilst he’s focused like this.”

“Then I guess we gotta wait until he’s finished, who knows how long that’ll take though…” Ryuji slumped over, pulling out his phone to try and distract himself whilst Ren wondered how Morgana was getting on, investigating the premise for any other information on Yusuke and his ‘sensei’.

…

After some considerable time, where Ryuji nearly fell asleep leaning up against the wall, Yusuke finally broke his composure and shook his head slowly. “It’s no use… I just can’t…” he muttered, taking a moment to wipe his face. “My inspiration truly has left me…”

“Huh? Are you kidding me…?” Ryuji stood up, tilting his head to the side whilst getting a peek at Yusuke’s work. It was actually pretty impressive, better than anything he could ever do… and yet it wasn’t enough for the artist?

“Am I the problem? I’m sorry if I am, it’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before…” Ann didn’t look too happy, looking down to the floor as Yusuke was quick to interject.

“It’s not your fault at all, I am the problem here… because over the past few days, no, weeks, I’ve been having trouble staying focused and I hoped that this would be the piece to lift my spirits…” the artist said, his words dropping with every second. Ren once again could tell that he was troubled.

He just had to find out why.

“... perhaps we could resume this another time, at least, that’s what I hope…” Yusuke finished off saying, standing up in the process. “Next time, it would be-”

“Wait!”

Ryuji shouted out, still on his phone and scrolling through some sort of webpage.

“Ren… can you look at this for a second? I wanna make sure I’m seeing this correctly…” Ryuji showed his phone to Ren, and it wasn’t the Phan-Site as he was expecting, but a collection of news sites.

**THE CURIOUS CASE OF MADARAME: EXPOSED?**

**NATIONWIDE ARTIST EXPOSED BY FORMER STUDENT, EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!**

**LIVELEAK: JAPAN’S ART INDUSTRY IN JEOPARDY.**

“... I thought I’d search his name whilst we here, your face was telling me that there was something troubling your mind… and it had to have been Madarame…” Ryuji handed his phone over to Ren, who shook his head whilst looking at the titles and descriptions of each article.

“These are all recent… right? I knew there was a post or two on the Phan-Site, but it’s extended into news outlets… this can’t be a coincidence…” Ren said, which then finally attracted the attention of Yusuke and Ann.

“What are you two talking about? Didn’t one of you have something to say?” Yusuke asked, with Ryuji giving Ren a slight nudge. The latter had Ryuji’s phone in his hand, flashing the screen in Yusuke’s direction and propping up his glasses at the same time. He gave Yusuke a moment to read down the screen, with no reaction whatsoever coming from the artist apart from a typical straight face.

“Initially, I only planned to ask you brief questions about your sensei, but this is alarming wouldn’t you think? What was only brief rumours on the internet have now become articles the press are commenting on... “ Ren started, not bothering to soften his words. “Where do you stand in this, Kitagawa-kun? And tell me if your condition plays any sort of part in-”

“Stop…” Yusuke interrupted with, slightly chuckling at the end whilst also pushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. “... these baseless rumours are simply that. The press will try and do anything to jeopardize the career of somebody with that much fame, including using titles such as those to get clicks.”

He walked forward slightly, to which Ren lowered the phone and faced him directly. “I thought you were smarter than this, Amamiya-san.”

…

“Natsuhiko Nakanohara, a former pupil of famous artist and designer, Ichiryusai Madarame, recently spoke to us on his own request. In the brief interview, Nakanohara accuses his former teacher of plaguarising not only his work, but the work of other pupils, work that has been shown in multiple museums across Tokyo and even across Japan…” Ann read out from her own phone, having accessed one of the sites off of her own intuition whilst listening to Ren and Yusuke.

“Kitagawa-kun… you even told me that one of the paintings at the exhibit was painted by yourself… yet it was in Madarame’s name, do you deny that now?” she continued, which made Yusuke look away for a moment.

“That’s….! No… he couldn’t!”

“There’s no point in hiding anything from us, dude. We just wanna confirm that this is all happening…” Ryuji said, everyone now looking towards Yusuke who was trying to distract himself from the current conversation.

“...”

“... it’s just as you say, sensei uses us as his ‘artwork’, but to call it plagiarism is absolutely absurd. Don’t misunderstand my words when I say that. Sensei can’t help that he’s suffering from artist’s block… that no ideas come to his head…” Yusuke’s expression changed to a rather frustrated one, with Ren now stepping in between him and Ryuji.

“Don’t you see yourself?! Ever since the day I first met you, you’ve looked worse and worse in terms of your physical condition… even now,” Ren took his hands out of his pockets, looking straight up at Yusuke. “This isn’t about Madarame anymore, this is about you and how you want to end up… because no matter what you say, he is taking advantage of you. We won’t stand for that!”

“And what is wrong with a pupil helping out his master?!” Yusuke shouted back in Ren’s face, the latter not backing down at all. He was used to situations like this. “I am not a victim, so stop pushing your self-centered righteousness down onto me!”

“What about the other students? Can you vouch for them? Why are you the only one left if there’s nothing going on behind the scenes? Answer me!” Ren’s questions kept coming in thick and fast, causing Yusuke to stutter slightly, looking away and then down at the ground.

“... I’m simply supporting Sensei as his pupil… there’s nothing wrong with that…” Yusuke was clearly getting more annoyed, sitting back down on the stool.

“I’ve had enough of this nonsense… so if you plan on continuing your baseless claims then you are not welcome here anymore. I will not be afraid to sue for causing a disturbance if you come back…” Yusuke muttered out, shocking everyone else in the room. Ren simply kept his glare in the artist’s direction.

“Wait a damn minute! We’re not done here!” Ryuji let his anger take hold of him, stomping his foot against the floor.

“In that case… I’m reporting you to the police,” Yusuke stood up, taking a phone out of his pocket while keeping his eyes on the leader of the group. “The only person who I asked to be here was Takamaki-san, and whilst I initially welcomed your presence Amamiya-san, you and your friend have proven to be no more than a nuisance!”

“... the fuck… what the fuck, man!” Ryuji squared up to Yusuke, before an arm was thrown out in front of him from Ren. The blonde backed up, but wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. “There was no way we were letting Ann come here alone with you!”

“Ryuji! Please, stop…!” Ann said, seeing her friends start to get heated in this discussion. “Calm down and I’m sure we can sort this out, okay?”

The tension in the room was still rising, Ren not taking his eyes off of as Yusuke as the artist proceeded to put his phone away. “I won’t report you, just under one simple condition…”

“... that you, Takamaki-san, continue to be my model.”

Immediately, this made Ren raise an eyebrow. Yusuke now had a smile back on his face, something that the boy didn’t exactly expect out of the artist in this situation.

“It wasn’t working out though, was it…?” she replied back to him.

“Quite frankly, it was my fault for being so modest about it… however, it appears that you are willing to do this again, correct? Then, I don’t have anything to worry about anymore, so I shall…”

**“... put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!”**

…

“WHAT?!” Ryuji nearly leaped backwards, mouth agape at the revelation at what Yusuke just said. Meanwhile, Ann was in just as much shock, her face bright red. Morgana came back at just the right time, poking his head around the open room. The feline appeared the most offended, frozen before managing to sneak behind the group and hop into Ren’s bag that he had left on the stool.

“... wha…?! Nude?!” Ann was shocked as everyone else, looking over to Ren for some sort of answer, who unsurprisingly was in quite a bit of shock at what he just heard Yusuke say.

“Kitagawa-kun… you aren’t serious… are you?” Ren tilted his head to the side, a sense of worry and anger in his voice. “There’s no way-”

“To think I’d be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model... and of course, you two won’t be allowed in-” Yusuke went to finish and found himself going face to face with Ren once more, with the tension at an all time high. Ann didn’t want any conflict to take place, grabbing Ren’s arm and trying to pull him away.

“I’d advise you to leave now, Amamiya-san. This isn’t your business anymore.” Yusuke said to him, with Ren still not backing down and not responding to any attempts to pull him away.

“You’re lost, Kitagawa-kun.” Ren finally said to him, backing away slightly and looking to see Yusuke’s face drop slightly, almost a millisecond of guilt before he kept the same straight face.

“Isn’t nude… without clothes?! Why are we suddenly escalating things like that?! I don’t get it!” Ann’s mind was full of all kinds of thoughts, all racing through as she tried to continue pulling Ren away, wanting to just deal with this another time and not risk any sort of physical altercation.

“Because those are my terms.”

Yusuke said those words with a smile, and as Ryuji tried to get everyone to clear out, Ren looked to follow suit… before Ren felt a jolt zoom through his head. He had felt this before, back on the bus to the television station… another voice talking to him. Was this his Persona? It definitely had a similar tone to Arsene.

H̴̩͚̪̥͖͂̈ō̷̭̞̟̱̘̩̌̃̏͜ņ̶͓͈̮̫̹͓̭̾ǫ̷̧̛̣̥̤̩ṳ̴̹̣͓͓͈̳̽ȑ̸̛̞̩͘ ̴͉͔͚̺͊̂̈͛̀i̸̧̹̬͎̟͙̱̋ͅs̷̢̙͋̇̍͛ ̸̼͈̟͙̀́â̵̤͖̬̳͔͔̍̋͌̊̚ ̶͖̻̂̑̆l̶̢̧͇̼͑͗̎̒o̵̖̳̙̥̭̱̗͛̊s̶̛̟͇̙͇̘̿̐ͅͅt̴͎͍̾͗̕ ̵̱̅͌͐̑̎͝c̵͙̘̖͔̝̠̽̐ą̷̙͍͙͆̓̿̀ů̵̳̙̬̳͖͒͐̂̃͝͠ͅs̷̲̳̘̖̜̰̲͍̊̐͝͠e̶̺̩̋̈́̾͋̅̏̚̚,̶̗̲̺̙̥͔͕͖͗ ̷̢̭̩̣̱̩̥͔̓̌͑͝͝i̷͙̼̬͇͈͎͛͌̑̽̀̎́s̷͓̾̊̈́͗̚͜n̸̯̬̥̻͉̩̝̈́̄͝'̴͍̖̺͉͉̩͒̈̚t̷̠̰͎͖̽̓̂̀̈́͠͠ ̶̨͓̪̲̠͍̤̾͆̃͐͒̇̕͝i̷̧͇̦̦̜̮͔͓̓̍͌t̸̢̹̼͙̅̏?̵̛͔̳͍̥  
̵̩̬̗̗͎̩̮̾̏͑͐̈́̂  
̸̮̻̟̩̻̈́̆̏Ŕ̶̢̼̫̘̗̀͊ͅȩ̴̮̝̻̊̂̃̀̚m̶̥̏͊̏e̸͓͖͍̭͖͇̾̍̐͝m̶̗̜͋̇̐̓͂̾̚b̶̘́̈͝e̸͎̗͓̞̙̎̈́̂̎r̶̯̞͐̈́̆̾͘̕ ̸̝̖̪̰͙̪̫̞͆̀̕t̵̡̤̠̭̫̝͖̜͛̉̽̋̂̌h̴̳̫̠͍̺̻̃̅ḁ̵͍̯͚̃͊̓̓̉̋t̴̢̢̤̲̮̃̊͊́͌̌̉ ̴̙̤̲̗͚͈͖̌̑̍͋̎͜ỵ̵̣̲̳̳̄̆̍̓̑̓̕͝o̷̟̙͛u̶̝͉͐̌̑͘͝ ̶̜̈́c̶̜̟̤̣̦͛̃̃̽̚͜a̷̟̽̉̎͜͠n̴̽̓̈́̌͋̂̆ͅ ̵͚͖̇̍̔̊̊c̴̬̽͐̔͠h̵̨̰͓͚͌̈́̃̒a̶̠̓͂̏̕n̷̻͉̽̇g̶̡̖͈͝e̶̖̓́̆͆͂̄͝ ̵̢̧͖͇̖̱͖̅̏͆̌̂̾͝t̵̙̠̤̖̫̃h̷̳͈̟̝̻̬͌̒̅̇́̋́e̶͈̯̜̠̊̀̎͋̆͛̚ ̴̡͙̗̗̻̱̰͗͐̓ŵ̸̢̨̳̟͚͜o̷͚̯͚͇͛́͐r̵̯̠͇͆̈̓͛̇̕̚͠l̶͖͓̜͎̦̏͗̅̍͜d̴̮̭͔̟͍̣̈͌́̅͗́̍̕.̵̙̝̦̋̍͘  
̴̼̝̿  
̶̛̱̲̳̅͗́̂̉͠Ö̷͖̏̕n̴͕͓̭̰̳̥̤̫̑̽̅̄̕e̵̳̺̟͚͈̪͇̐̉̈́͝ ̴̣̬̟̚s̷̛͓̪̼̓̽̿̽̏̓̒ṫ̷̡̨͙̕͜͜ḛ̸͚̻̺̦̳̖͑̎p̴̡̡̞̎̂̅̔͛̚ ̶͍̻̪͍̌͝a̷̖͈͉̖͎̱̝̤̾̕t̴̢̳̳̟̞͋̀̽͑̑͜͝ͅ ̴̛̥͉̝̙̣͑̿̆͋̑̂a̶̧͇͖̱̹̖͈̺͋̉͂͒̏̕͝͝ ̶̧͕̫͔̬͛̂̅͘͜t̷͖̠̗̯̞̦̘̾̌͒ĩ̴̡͍͎̣̝̂̈́̈́̆̂͘m̸̝̲̺̦̫̤̈́̈́̆̒̆̕e̸̘͍͖͔̫̪͕͒̎͒͝.̵̜̖̆͊̍̍̃

He really wanted to do something… but then he thought back to how he originally came to Tokyo, how he got into this mess… maybe it would be better to sit back and do nothing for now. Yusuke wouldn’t forget this though, to even try and blackmail Ann, somebody who had already done so much to change Ren’s life for the better.

Ren and his group had the Metaverse though, they just had to do something about Madarame before Yusuke could report them to the police. Another run in would mean the end of his freedom and who knows what for the other two.

He couldn’t leave them behind, not anymore.

It wasn’t long until after the group left did Yusuke look up to the ceiling, letting out a deep sigh as he sunk down in his stool. A moment of dread overcame him for a moment, before he shook his head.

“This is right… isn’t it? For Sensei, for my career… because if I don’t submit another piece in the forthcoming days before the exhibit is over…” he started to say, grabbing a brush and looking over at the previous portrait of Ann.

“... I’m finished.”

* * *

**ICHIRYUSAI MADARAME**

**MUSEUM**

**MADARAME’S HOUSE**

Those were the key words the group entered as soon as they got outside of the residence, not bothering to even consider waiting a day before getting a grasp on this twisted man’s cognition. Ren especially, was confident that Madarame had a Palace and he was correct all the way. The fact that Madarame thought of his own house as a museum was fitting, especially for somebody with art exhibits having been hosted all throughout Tokyo and some across the country itself.

Joker, Panther, Skull and Mona all dropped in at the entrance to the twisted museum, looking upwards to see the glimmering figure tower over them. It was a work of art… literally. Skull pointed out how finding something within the Metaverse should show them definitive proof that Madarame isn’t all that he seems, and with the emergence of a Palace, that would definitely be enough proof in itself… Mona reminded the gang that they needed to venture deeper to find out the artist’s secret.

And so they did.

Joker and Panther led the way, the latter still slightly on edge after what she had just been told until Joker took the chance of another small argument between Skull and Mona on how they should enter the museum, either through the roof or through the front, to console his partner and tell her that everything would be alright. That was the truth too, because hearing someone who he knew was in danger, Yusuke, say such things to Ann, a girl who had already been through so much thanks to Suguru Kamoshida…

… it sickened him how the world worked sometimes.

“Just like a traditional Phantom Thief… ain’t that right, Mona?” Skulli said to the feline as the group made it up to an open window on the roof of the museum.

“Yet, you were the one who wanted to fight through everyone at the front…” Mona groaned before seeing Ren descend down to the floor, followed up by Panther and the other two members followed.

What they dropped down into was… definitely what Joker was expecting. The dark blue of the museum echoed all around the walls, with paintings of what looked to be other young artists surrounding them. Some were high school students, others were normal adults… and one definitely stood out among the rest as Joker walked up to read the nameplate, peering up at the image of a man he had seen in the news…

… just that day, even.

**NATSUHIKO NAKANOHARA**

“Yep, so the article wasn’t misleading at all. I believe that all of these paintings represent Madarame’s students, or at least ones that he did have before they ran away…” Joker said and reached up to try and inspect the painting for any sort of mechanism.

“... because Yusuke is the only one left, isn’t he?” Panther examined a nearby vase, accidentally pushing it over and seeing it smash straight onto the floor. Oh, well. Not like anybody could make her pay for it in these conditions. “Those rumours are driving him crazy and the sad thing is that they’re all true…”

“Hey, guys! Over here!”

Skull shouted out to the rest of the gang, having jogged through an opening in the wall and looking at a much larger painting on the other side. It was that of the boy himself, Yusuke Kitagawa, presented in the same attire he was wearing today. Mona nodded and didn’t want to stay and observe any longer, calling out for his team to follow him. Panther stuck around for a moment to look up at the image as Skull and Joker ran off, wondering the malice or intentions behind Yusuke’s more than ‘out there’ request.

…

“Ann- I mean, Panther, sorry, that’s not the first time I messed up like that…” a voice from behind her said, not expecting a head to come resting on her shoulder. Joker looked over to see that Skull and Mona had encountered the first shadow of this Palace, clearly having an easy time through the lightning bolts and strong gales completely turning most of the smaller shadows to dust. “... I don’t want you to have to pose nude, or anything stupid like that. Yusuke just went… too far.”

“I know, I know… and thank you,” Ann turned around to face Ren directly, leaning forward to embrace him. “And that’s why we’ll change his mind before then by stealing Madarame’s heart, right?”

“That’s definitely the plan,” Ren responded with, pecking her forehead for a brief moment and letting go, seeing that Skull and Mona had already finished up with another set of shadows, definitely gaining some bonding experience through that process. “We’ll do this together, all of us, because there’s no way I’m letting artist boy try to get some alone time with you.” He saw Captain Kidd and Zorro retreat for now, grabbing Panther by the hand and squeezing it tight before starting to run back and join up with the boys.

Panther caught up, and her mask just managed to hide the fact that she was blushing.

* * *

**“Arsene!”**

**“Carmen!”**

**“Captain Kidd!”**

**“Zorro!”**

The Phantom Thieves continued their way through Madarame’s Palace, ignoring the paintings and marching on forth to take out groups of shadows after groups of shadows. Their previous ventures into Kawakami’s Palace had given them a good amount of experience to be a lot more comfortable when it came to adapting to a new environment. Joker kept using the advantage of the wildcard to add to his stock of Personas, definitely making Skull jealous as he would switch masks mid-fight at certain points just to show off.

In this world? Freedom was the key word.

Finally, they came to an important looking area. Joker could identify such a connotation through the amount of… real people gathered inside the Palace? This was quite a revelation to the group, seeing people on the outside and now actually inside the Palace with shadows still patrolling around as usual. Skull nearly got caught off guard once trying to pry a cognitive human for information, using his club to bash the shadow across the face and defeat it in a few more strikes. His fighting style had become a lot more vicious since the encounters with Kamoshida and Kawakami, realising that he didn’t need to hold back when it came to fighting corruption.

…

“Wow…” Mona said in awe as the group progressed through the next room, having to avoid many lasers that had been sprung to potentially trap them. Through Joker’s assistance and overall agileness, the group made it through fairly unnoticed. That’s when Mona layed his eyes on a… HUGE golden statue of who looked to be Madarame inself, clearly, Joker thought, this was what he thought of himself. A vital piece of art to be immortalised within this twisted museum.

“... if this was the treasure, I think we would be set for life!” Mona shouted out next, receiving a slap on the back of the head by Skull.

“Explain to us how we’re getting this out into the real world and maybe I’d listen… heh.” Skull and the others started to examine the scene, trying to find any sort of clues that would further link Madarame to his apparent crimes. Apart from a few more smaller art pieces scattered nearby.

The treasure would still be a long way away.

* * *

After a less than impressive encounter involving what Mona would describe as a ‘treasure demon’ and a whole bunch of lasers that Joker had to rescue his teammates from, the group finally found themselves coming out to an outside area of the museum, initially running around and entering a nearby safe room. The first one to fall onto a nearby couch was Panther herself, having used a good amount of energy and health to fend off many shadows along with her time. Of course, it was Joker who helped her back up with a simple hand and even snuck in a quick peck to the top of her glove.

He was one for taking risks, and that involved romance.

They all stepped out from the safe room after a few minutes and brief discussion between them all, running forward towards another building. It was then that Joker noticed the towering door that blocked them from entering the building. The design of the door was definitely eccentric, and it wasn’t a surprise to find something like this within Madarame’s Palace. A set of lasers were also blocking the way, so no matter what, the group weren’t going to be getting through.

“So…. what now?” Skull asked, shrugging his shoulders and holding his weapon at his side. “We gotta break it down, right? That’s the only thing I can think of when it comes to something like this, y’know?”

“No, it must be something a lot more complex. Did you just forget what I had to save you from?” Joker asked, a slight chuckle at the end of his sentence as they recalled when Mona and Ryuji both activated the laser trap from the treasure demon earlier on. “Although, there’s nothing around here that would indicate some sort of mechanism…”

“Could we potentially backtrack? Maybe we missed something important…” Ann pondered, looking up to the door herself.

“... there’s no need, I know how we can get through,” Mona walked to the front of the door, examining it for a moment. “Remember, this is Madarame’s cognition, so if we change his perspective then that’ll change what we discover in the Metaverse.”

“Does that mean there’s a way to open up this passage?” Ann now said.

“That’s correct, Lady Ann, although the process might prove tricky in our current situation…” Morgana continued to look up towards the door, thinking back to the end of the confrontation between Yusuke and the group. “... this exact door is within Madarame’s residence, and I believe it was locked… so if we make Madarame himself see that the door can be opened, then we’ll be able to pass through it in the cognitive world.”

“... how the hell are we supposed to access his place now though?” Ryuji scratched the back of his head, trying to think up some sort of plan. “Ren and I are locked out for good… and then…”

A moment of silence filled the area for a moment. Ann herself decided to break it. “Well… no, if it’s possible… I wouldn’t like to go back there… I don’t feel comfortable with it at all…”

“What other options are there? Breaking in or something like that?” Ryuji suggested, a hand under his chin. He turned to Ren for some sort of expected answer from their leader. Ren too, was deep in thought, trying to think of some way they could get the door open.

The complicated part came with actually having Madarame see that the door could be opened, and then acting on that idea as soon as it happens to have the best chance at breaking through. It was just like locating a treasure, they probably wouldn’t have much time after Madarame’s cognition changed before it’d go back to the way it was.

“... how about we get back to the real world first? We’ve already come a long way through the palace, after all.” Ren said whilst pulling out his phone from the pocket of his coat. All he needed was a collective nod from the rest of the group…

… and they returned to the real world.

* * *

**07/06/16**

**???**

**Evening**

* * *

Yes… that’s what he remembered...

William had explained his plan to his team, and it went a little something like this.

Through tailing a goon that they had identified as working for Kaneshiro himself, Rogue One discovered the warehouse to which all of the crime leader’s orders were being distributed from. As a backup precaution, William had once again brought along the gun he had found and kept for himself when the initial surprise invasion happened. With no way to get in contact with their employers across the world, it was risky to head into this operation without any sort of body armour or protection.

Remember, this wasn’t supposed to be physical…

The attire was simple, as they were used to working in suits and formal wear, it was a change for them all to be working in jackets, combat trousers or tights when it came to Florence.

The surrounding area was pretty barren, apart from a car or two parked nearby that definitely belonged to the gang through how expensive they would look. William told Alexander to take the license plates just in case. It could come in handy. Then, the warehouse itself. There was a single entrance point around the side through the emergency exit. It would make less noise than simply forcing their way through the front.

“One last chance to back out, alright?” William said to his team, pressing a hand against the door itself.

“Not now, not never, dude. We’re going all in.” Robbie clenched his fists, deciding to throw the hood up of his jacket that covered most of the ginger bed hair he still had.

“I refuse to let us go down without any sort of reaction,” Florence walked in front of the group, smiling for the first time in what felt like forever to William. “Just stay calm, okay? This isn’t the first time we’ve done something like this.”

“... yeah, you’re right.” he smiled back in her direction, right before a final nod was the signal to push open the handle.

It was large, definitely fit for somebody of Kaneshiro’s status when it came to the criminal world. There was a small amount of chatter in the distance, with a sound a lot like a hand slamming down against a table. With William taking charge, he didn’t notice that there was a man standing around on his phone just over a clothed table. Before he could duck behind the table, as if this was straight out of Hitman, William heard the muffled yells of the same goon, being choked out from behind by the long arms of Alexander.

Alexander had to struggle with the main for a while, avoiding any sort of disturbance by getting assistance from Robbie, who punched the goon straight in the stomach before he finally succumbed to the hold.

“And stay down…” the blonde muttered, taking cover across the other side of the warehouse along with Robbie. That left William and Florence to peer around the corner, looking around to see quite the scene.

Junya Kaneshiro was there in the flesh, standing out in a large navy suit and gold chain. He sat around a circular table, cards thrown on the table itself and some even flowing off the side and onto the floor. Kaneshiro was playing some sort of card game with three goons, to which he was clearly struggling with through the frustrated expression on his face.

…

“Full house! This is all mine….! Oh, man, my **bank** balance is going to be on a whole different level after this!” one of the goons giddily said, drawing in a huge stack of chips from the center of the table as everyone around him groaned, Kaneshiro included. They were smartly dressed, most likely because of all the money this group was generating. That’s what William thought anyway.

For a moment, he thought he heard his phone say something. It must’ve been a notification for one of the games he downloaded.

“Why does this look like the opening to a Mafia game?” William whispered over to Florence, who was positioned just below him and peeking out from the cover.

“... I have never played one of those,” Florence said in response. “It resembles more of a bad gangster film set, and Kaneshiro is the useless lead.”

“He definitely stands out from the others, both in accessories and the size of his waist.” William snickered in response, getting a less than disapproving glare from Florence before she too smiled.

“You never matured, did you?”

“Nope, never.”

…

“And again!” the same goon who threw down his cards previously did so once again, taking in some more chips for himself and looking quite happy whilst doing so. He stood up from the table, earning the disapproval from the other men playing as the goon was truly living it up. “One of the finest performances yet!”

“Sit back down,” Kaneshiro spoke up, head nearly leaning against the table itself. The other goons then looked towards one another and nodded, seeing that their leader wasn’t too happy. “How about we call it here? I’m getting so fucking bored…”

He raised a hand, shooing the other goons away, to which they soon complied. William looked over in the direction they were heading to, sensing that Robbie and Alexander might have some more company. He thought about running over to help, extending a leg before a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Keep observing, I trust in you.” Florence said to him, quickly darting across the gap and towards the darkened part of the warehouse where William lost sight of her after a few seconds. He didn’t even get to say anything.

“... when did she become nice? Huh…”

William had more to worry about right now, not sensing any danger, but still keeping a hand over the pocket he stored the handgun within. There was now a conversation occurring between Kaneshiro and one of his goons that apparently had just won the jackpot within this makeshift poker game. The mob boss reached into his trouser pocket, taking out a stack of bills and flicking through them.

A lot of yen, that was for sure.

He kept flicking through them, no words being exchanged between the two before nodding his head and begrudgingly handing them over to the goon, who again, was looking far too pleased with his reward.

“I should get going then, boss.” the goon said after a few more seconds of silence, pocketing the bills for himself and starting to head off in the exact direction where William was hiding. Well, shit. If there was any time to introduce himself to Kaneshiro, then it’d be now if this fucker was going to notice him.

“No, I forgot something… just come here for a second,” Kaneshiro said, turning his back to the goon and heading back towards the table. “Yep, just like I thought… some of these chips were worth more than I thought…”

His tone was definitely unusual for someone who was on the brink of losing more money. The agent wanted to peek out more, trying his hardest not to give himself away, yet still worrying about the status of his team.

That’s when he heard it.

…

***BANG***

The sound of a gun firing shook the whole area, and made William go into a slight state of panic. He dared to even turn around and look at what happened, and it was just like he expected. The goon was laying on the ground face first, the back of his head had a noticeable hole right through the back. Kaneshiro’s aim didn’t disappoint. Before the agent could take action, he heard a loud commotion happening at the other end of the warehouse, right through the darkness he was familiar with.

He took some deep breaths, and pulled the gun out from his pocket. Worse had come to worse… he could either run and see what was happening, whilst risking complete detection from Kaneshiro, who was armed… or try and get the jump and kill the bastard then and there-

_No!_

Even in this situation, there was no point in killing him… that’s if he could even bring himself to do that. Who knew the consequences of such an action?

“Hey! Who’s there?!”

He jolted upwards from his position, leaning further back against the surface. Of course, it was his breathing to gave him away… but now it just turned from a bad situation to a horrible one. Kaneshiro clearly wasn’t messing around when it came to this.

How fucking cliche is this… haha… definitely a shit gangster movie now...

William laughed to himself in his own mind, stopping for a moment and holding his breath whilst he heard footsteps approach, definitely from Kaneshiro. The plan of action was to quickly fire a gun shot and get out of there quickly.

…

**“BOSS!”**

Another loud shout, maybe… maybe this was the time to get out of there, but he couldn’t leave his team behind, not like this.

“... a bunch of fucking pricks found their way in here… they managed to escape out of the front…”

… well, at least they were safe.

“... AH! Is that… is that?!”

It was probably unusual for such lowlifes to see a dead body like that in the flesh, William thought to himself as he continued to overhear the conversation without being able to look at anything in fear of his own life.

“He lived out his worth, just like many others before him.”

That was the voice of Kaneshiro. And this had happened before? In a way, the agent wasn’t surprised. William looked towards the emergency exit. In reality, a mad dash would guarantee his safety, but there was the smallest part of him believing that a distraction would also come in handy. He slightly edged along the only thing blocking his body from being shown, before raising the gun just over the block as the conversation continued…

***BANG***

Another gunshot, this time, he knew it was coming.

William darted up to his feet, placing a hand against a nearby wall to boost off of it and run towards the exit. So far, so good. His feet had never moved as fast as they did now, with only an arm away from pushing the door open…

***BANG***

…

“... h-huh…”

William managed to tumble through the exit, falling over onto the hard concrete and feeling a sharp pain shooting through his shoulder and down his left arm. He went to get up with the same arm, trying to push himself off the ground until again, the same sharp pain made him yell out in absolutely agony.

“FUCK! Ah… you fucking… cunt!”

He already knew what had happened, somehow managing to use the unaffected arm to push himself up to a standing position. William held the spot closely, which for some reason only seemed to increase the pain. The agent continued to run for his life, hearing and feeling them start to pursue him.

His heartbeat was increasing by the second.

The emergency exit swung open, and he heard more of the goons coming. William had managed to conceal himself behind a scaffolding structure connected to the warehouse, moving ever so slightly as he pulled out his phone and hopefully tried to call for some help.

…

Then it came to him. William navigated over to the Meta-Nav application whilst holding his phone in the wounded arm, he was expecting the usual menu, when instead of that, he was brought with a single option to ‘ACCESS’.

…

And as the goons came around the corner, he disappeared in a flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o fuck, it's been a while laaaads.
> 
> I'm so, so sorry for being late. These chapters might just be published on the basis of 'whenever I can write', simply because there are multiple other projects and college work taking up my time! The main one of these is a Persona 5 Animation Fandub, so ahhh, a lot of editing and voice work has to be done, as well as scripts for the different episodes. Enough of that though, time to talk about ToP.
> 
> \- Instead of simply copy and pasting scenes from the game like I've done in previous chapters, I will do my best to mix things up whilst still keeping the general basis and some elements of dialogue. It's just to spice things up and benefit this change of pace in the story. 
> 
> \- A big change from the game is how Yusuke's 'blackmail' is going to be received. As you can tell, they aren't too happy, especially Ren. I thought this was a poor choice in the game, especially after the arc Ann went through previously.
> 
> \- The side by side arc of Kaneshiro is taking form nicely, at least from how I initially wanted it to play out.
> 
> This chapter hits just over 10k words, so bless, I hope it's worth the wait!


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